Page 19 - Chase Case Study Final
P. 19
Chase whisky
At the beginning of 2014 James Chase confirmed that trials for the
whisky were well underway.
“We’re developing a whisky at the moment that we might want to make
in a similar way to a Bourbon going down a corn or a rye route”, said
James Chase.
“We’re doing lots of different trials at the moment with what we’re using
as a base. We’ve collaborated with Hobsons Brewery in Shropshire and
are developing a whisky with a barley based wash that we could charge
with hops at the end,” he added.
The distillery currently has 5,300 litres of whisky in barrel, with the oldest
batch two years old.
In addition to experimenting with the base ingredient, Alex Davies, who
is heading up the project, is also playing around with different types of
wood, from French to American oak.
“We’re talking to wine producers at the moment as we’re interested in
using old wine barrels that have housed things like Sauternes,” Chase
said.
“We’re putting down a barrel a week so something will be ready by the
end of the year. We want to call it a Hereford whisky and create a new
category,” he added.
Although the final style will remain constant, Chase aims to produce
limited edition runs of some of the styles that showcase different base
ingredients, like corn and rye.
As of 2016, the Chase Distillery formed part of the Williams Chase
brand.