Page 4 - Chase Case Study

The core belief at Chase Distillery is that using organic

potatoes improves the taste considerably; they use starchy
varieties such as Lady Rosetta and Golden Wonder as they

have a high dry-matter content.

“I thought people would be interested in the provenance
and the fact that we grow the potatoes and make the

vodka here on the farm but what has really captured

people’s interest is the Englishness in a market dominated
by Russian and Polish vodka.” William Chase

Post Tyrrells Crisps – 2008

Chase sold his remaining stake in Tyrrells to a private equity

outfit, Langholm Capital, for almost £40m in 2008. He said
he did not sell out to collect a big cheque, but because the

business was getting too big and was no fun anymore. So,

what did Chase, who was declared bankrupt at 29, spend
the money on? "Well, I had just got divorced, so my ex-wife got

40% of it," he said. Then he paid off all his debts and spent

£3m building the distillery, including £900,000 on the world's

tallest copper distillation column.”

Chase believed that Langholm bought Tyrrells in 2008

because the banks were "daft enough" to lend them the

money just as the economic crisis bit. "We were quite lucky. It
was good timing."

The “bankers” pulled out of many of the small delicatessens

and farm shops that Chase spent so long cultivating, to
concentrate on bringing Tyrrells to the wider market.

Likewise, they ceased to use Chase's premium potatoes.