Jason Nickels heads up the distilling process of Salcombe Gin.
He oversees production on the impressive 450 litre copper pot still which can be seen at Salcombe Distilling Co’s distillery on Island Street in Salcombe. He also runs the hugely popular ‘gin school’ where people make their own personal bottles of gin in mini stills at the distillery workshop.
Salcombe Gin is the brainchild of Howard Davies and Angus Lugsden (pictured opposite),
who originally met in the 1990s while teaching sailing in the town. Over a gin and tonic, of course, they made plans to build a purpose built distillery in the heart of Salcombe.
Head distiller Jason Nickels joined Howard and Angus on the very first batch, batch number one. The company is now on batch number 88.
They started on two 60 litre stills in July last year, and then, when it became apparent just how much demand there was for Salcombe Gin, they invested in the impressive 450 litre still, which produced its first batch in January.
Jason said: ‘I was the final bit of the jigsaw in a way. Howard and Angus had developed an exceptionally good gin, and I helped manage the transition to a larger scale production process whilst maintaining our exacting standards to ensure the consistent high quality of the gin with no compromises.
‘I was one of the two who started the South Devon Chilli Farm in Loddiswell back in 2003, so my background is in mixing textures and flavours.
‘Combining the ingredients that go into the gin, including the flowers, herbs and spices, are all things I’ve worked on at the Chilli Farm.’
Salcombe Gin is made from 13 such ingredients and distilled with wheat spirit and pure Dartmoor water to produce a gin of top quality.
A blend of grapefruit, lemons and limes is added, inspired by the history of the Salcombe ‘fruiters’ – ships that were built in the town and imported citrus fruits and spices to the main ports of England from the Azores, West Indies and Mediterranean in the 19th century.
The citrus fruits are hand peeled every morning to ensure the freshness of the citrus oils. Then the other botanical ingredients are added, including Macedonian juniper, liquorice, green cardamom, chamomile flowers, bay leaf, coriander seeds, cubeb berries and cinnamon bark.
After the distilling process the gin is blended with water originating from Dartmoor to reduce to a bottling strength at 44%, left to rest and then bottled.
Jason said: ‘The bottling machinery is very noisy for the nearby office so, every Tuesday when we bottle up the next batch, we start at seven in the morning. Tasting and checking the gin at that time of the morning makes for an interesting start to the day!’
Jason explained that Salcombe uses the London Gin method of making gin, which was developed in the mid 19th century.
He explained, ‘London Gin is a standard to abide by. It means the gin has to be a very high quality spirit with the original pre-blended distillate at least 70% ABV (Salcombe Gin is around 85% prior to blending), an extremely low level of methanol and no fruit or colouring must be added after distillation.
‘It’s a historic thing and was introduced as a mark of quality for consumer protection with a few common sense rules to make something palatable, not poisonous.’
Salcombe Gin started selling last summer with an initial focus in the South West and the bar opened at the end of the year.
Jason said: ‘At the tail end of summer last year, whilst waiting for the main Island Street premises to complete development, we were giving out samples in the street and selling with temporary licences.
‘We hadn’t had the full taste of summer until this year. We expected it to be busy but it’s really exceeded our expectations.’
Business is now booming, with a friendly bar overlooking the water selling ‘S&Ts’ – Salcombe and tonics; a ‘gin school’, shop and even a gin hamper service delivering to yachts in the harbour.
The ‘gin school’ was launched in March this year, and creates an amazing environment for people to make their own unique bottles of gin on a miniature still.
Jason runs the gin school workshops on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The mid-week sessions were added at the start of the summer holidays but have been so popular they’re continuing until the end of the year.
Each workshop runs for three hours with around 16 people, many in couples, producing a bottle of their own gin. Stacks of Kilner jars include a delicious assortment of ingredients to make everyone’s bottle unique to them.
Jason said: ‘It’s a complete gin making process in miniature. People pour the alcohol, water and wheat spirit into their own still; add the main ingredient of juniper berries; choose from a range of ingredients; then seal the still and set the distillation process going.
‘You can taste the gin as you go along but unlike making a curry you can’t add anything extra, so we guide them on optimum amounts of botanicals to us in their recipes so that everyone gets a decent bottle.’
Participants can add savoury tones, including coriander and dried cucumber, chillis of course; sweet ingredients such as vanilla and honey; and fruit and floral botanicals.
They then choose a name and label for their bottle and proudly put it in a wooden presentation box.
Jason said: ‘Most couples have no problem agreeing on the ingredients. The pressure tends to be on choosing a name and sticking the label on!
‘It’s lots of classroom fun and always looks like a professional bottle of gin at the end. There’s been no disasters so far – nobody’s ever spilt their gin.’
Classes are punctuated with lots of S&Ts throughout the afternoon and finish with a glass of the participants’ own gin in the bar.
The gin school has proved very popular and, after being marketed at boat shows and gin festivals, has attracted more visitors to the town this summer.
Jason said: ‘Salcombe is busy in general but people are now coming to Salcombe just for the gin school – from Cornwall, Exeter, Bristol, London, Birmingham, Newcastle and further afield. Half of the people in our gin school have visited the town for the purpose of making their own gin.
‘The opening of the gin school has extended Salcombe Gin into an artistic and creative environment. It’s also great fun working with the participants, especially seeing the pleasure they get from producing their own delicious and unique bottle of gin.’
This year, Salcombe Gin will be sponsoring the Dartmouth Food Festival Bar on the South Embankment so be sure to pop in for a signature ‘Salcombe & Tonic’ or a tantalising cocktail.
First published in By The Dart Magazine October 2017
