Pelyn Cross, Lanlivery,
Cornwall, PL22 0JG, UK
T: 01208 873967 info@colwithfarmdistillery.co.uk
Aval Dor Cornish Gin Glamorous Gold winner
Aval Dor Cornish Gin Glamorous Gold winner
Aval Dor Dry Gin
Our classic London Dry style gin has won GOLD in 2021 at the prestigious San Francisco World Spirits Competition and has been crafted to make the perfect G&T.
A selection of the finest botanicals are distilled into our award winning vodka in our handmade copper pot stills.
Juniper, coriander, vapour infused citrus peel and fresh fruit up front, give way to exotic spices, finishing dry and bitter.
Perfect served neat on ice or paired with your favourite tonic water, garnished with a lime twist.
Aval Dor Cornish Gin Glamorous Gold winner
How it started
Steve Dustow’s great-great-grandfather, Stafford, bought Colwith Farm in 1904. It’s remained in the family for five generations and been given a fresh twist through diversification. The region’s first plough-to-bottle distillery has its home on the farm and uses potatoes from the family’s 250 acres.
While Steve’s brother Chris, dad Mike and grandad Clive increased the farm’s crop growing capabilities from 40 acres, Steve went to university to study business economics. With the farm unable to sustain another salary on his return, he went into construction project management. Steve later returned to the farm, and a conversation with a friend about vodka production sparked a business idea.
Fermenting a fantastic plan
The brothers began exploring whether distilling vodka was something they could do at Colwith Farm. While many distilleries buy in ready-made spirit as a base for their products, Steve wanted to produce his own on-site. Despite many people pouring cold water on the idea, he was determined to keep going.
After visiting the Netherlands to do a distilling course and speaking to others in the industry, Steve followed his vision and secured planning permission for the new distillery on Colwith Farm.
However, once that bridge was crossed, it took around two to three years to finalise the government licences needed to make their own base spirit from scratch.
Aval Dor Cornish Gin Glamorous Gold winner
Cornwall’s first plough-to-bottle vodka, produced by Colwith Farm Distillery, has been named one of the best in the world after winning double gold awards for three years running at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. Watch to find out more about their journey. Video created in partnership with The Times.
“We’ve created something whereby if one of the kids wants to go into marketing, sales or drive a tractor, they can. If we didn’t have the next generation coming in and showing an interest, it wouldn’t justify the hours long term.”
Steve Dustow – Founder, Colwith Farm Distillery
Navigating a steep learning curve
Steve built the distillery himself with the help of a small team. Lloyds Bank provided the funding for the construction. Lloyds Bank Agricultural Relationship Manager, Jeremy Weekes said: “The key thing was having the confidence in the family and the generational relationship we had with them to allow Steve to go away on his own and create a business based on projections.”
Colwith Farm Distillery opened in the summer of 2018. Steve and Head Distiller Jordan Gilbert started making vodka from scratch, with a lot of trial and error involved. When they were happy with the first product, they sent a sample to the San Francisco World Spirits competition, picking up a Silver Award.
Determined to go further, they bought all the world’s best vodkas to benchmark their Aval Dor product. It’s since won three Double Gold Awards, which resulted in the most prestigious Platinum Award, something no other UK vodka distillery has achieved. The company’s Cornish gin is a Gold Award winner made from botanicals grown on the farm and elsewhere.
Guided Distillery Tour.
Join us in the region’s first plough to bottle distillery and learn step by step how we turn our amazing potatoes into award winning spirits. Your 1.5 hour tour commences at 1:30pm and includes:
Aval Dor Cornish Gin Glamorous Gold winner
- Welcome Cornish Dry G&T. (Drivers may enjoy a soft drink).
- Step by step tour in Cornwall’s only plough to bottle distilleryEntering the distillery floor, you will see where we peel, macerate, cook and distil our delicious potatoes – transforming them into the world’s best vodka. Next up, you will learn how we transform vodka into Cornwall’s most authentic gin, in our handmade copper pot stills.
- Tutored tasting
We will take you on a tasting journey through our flagship, award-winning vodkas and gins. This includes 2 x Vodkas and 2 x Gins (15ml serves) with complimentary mixers. Drivers can take a 5cl bottle from our shop in lieu of samples. - £5 discount in our distillery shop applicable on purchases over £30. (Only one £5 discount can be applied per single transaction)Please note – your booking can be amended via your confirmation email, 48 hours or more before your tour. Unfortunately, we cannot offer amendments or refunds within 48 hours of your booking taking place.
Action Nan’s days out for grown ups – Colwith Farm Distillery
Aval Dor Cornish Gin Glamorous Gold winner
The whole of Cornwall seems to have gone gin mad. At the last count there were 11 craft distilleries in Cornwall making gin from a vast range of botanicals. Most pubs and restaurants are making a big shout out about the range of gins available. People just can’t seem to get enough of it, with gin festivals, gin tours and gin making lessons all on offer in the county.
I visited the newly-opened Colwith Farm Distillery between Fowey and Lostwithiel. The farm is run by Mike and his sons, Steve and Chris. Their family’s been farming here for five generations; they starting growing potatoes for the Second World War effort and haven’t looked back since.
The bulk of the potatoes go to make crisps. However, the manufacturers are fussy and only want perfect potatoes, which means there are always some which don’t make the grade. So to use up these not-quite-perfect spuds, they came up with the idea of producing their own alcohol (ethanol) from potatoes, as the base for their gin, and they’re the only Cornish distillery to do this.
Aval Dor Cornish Gin Glamorous Gold winner
The distillery barn has a visitor centre where you assemble for the guided tour. This follows the whole process from peeling and crushing the potatoes (Wilma or King Edwards are the best varieties, and peelings and washing water are spread back on the fields) on to the fermenter and distiller, then on to rectifying and finally bottling. The water required for this process comes from underground water on the farm, so it only needs renewable energy now to make it a closed loop self-reliant system.
Aval Dor Cornish Gin Glamorous Gold winner
I discovered that this process creates vodka. Vodka is just gin without the juniper, I didn’t know that! Adding the botanicals seems to be the most crucial and important part of the process. Everyone has their own secret recipe, which is closely guarded. The botanicals come from all over the world and are used dried for consistency.
At the moment Colwith produces three drinks: Stafford’s Gin, Aval Dor Vodka, and Fowey River Gin, which uses surplus cider from a local farm to produce it. Another product in the pipeline is gin made with a blueberry surplus from another local farm. I was very impressed to see the efforts being made to work with other farmers to eliminate waste.
The tour was followed by a tasting session, which was very generous, allowing us to try mixtures of gins and tonics. They also offer a gin masterclass where they’ll help you to make a gin of your own!
Aval Dor Cornish Gin Glamorous Gold winner
The tour and tasting costs £15 per person. It took just over an hour and I can heartily recommend it. At the moment they do tours on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
Find out more about tours and tasting sessions at Colwith Farm Distillery >
Gin School
Aval Dor Cornish Gin Glamorous Gold winner
An unprecedented Cornish experience simply perfect for the gin lover. Your Gin School runs from 3:30pm to 5:30pm and includes:
- A welcome Cornish Dry G&T (drivers may enjoy a soft drink).
- An introduction into our wonderful world of botanicals, flavour profiles and gin rectification.
- A Seasonal Colwith Cocktail
- You will take control of your own copper alembic pot still (just like ours – only smaller) to distil your perfect gin.
- Blend & hand-fill your 70cl bottle of delectable Cornish gin that is distinct to any other in the world.
- £5 discount in our distillery shop on purchases over £30. (Only one £5 discount can be applied per single transaction).
- Enjoy your time in our beautiful up-cycled bar or in our botanical garden, sipping award winning spirits & seasonal cocktails. Drinks not included.
Aval Dor Cornish Gin Glamorous Gold winner
THE GIN TO MY TONIC THOUGHTS
Few distilleries offer the breadth of experience that Colwith Farm Distillery have in store for you when you visit.
Their farm to bottle model means you will quite literally get your hands dirty as they talk you through the journey from Potato farming to bottling their award winning spirits!
Set in the rural idyl of Cornwalls glorious countryside, a stones throw from Lostwithiel, In the distillery itself you will find a magnificent six tonne cooking vessel, a revolutionary stripping still, two state of the art column stills, three hand-made copper pot stills, not to mention the eight mini-gin stills, where you can make a bespoke bottle of gin under the expert guidance of the distillery team.
This distillery has so much to offer and we’d recommend stopping in if only to grab a bottle of their award winning spirits!
Aval Dor Cornish Gin Glamorous Gold winner
About COLWITH FARM DISTILLERY
Colwith Farm Distillery is founded on five generations of farming history and powered by 100% renewable energy. Colwith Farm are one of only a handful of distilleries in the country that make spirits from scratch on one single estate. In terms of provenance, authenticity, environmental impact and product quality, it doesn’t get any better.
Visit the distillery and see how they transform the potatoes grown on the family farm, into award winning vodka and gin – then sample the produce straight from the source! Or better still, have a go at making your own gin or vodka blend!
Visit this working distillery and enjoy a Guided Distillery Tour & Tutored Tasting, a Gin or Vodka School Experience, or for the spirit aficionados – a Gin or Vodka Masterclass. Learn how they make their own platinum winning ‘Best Vodka in the World’ (San Francisco World Spirits Competition) and then have a go at mastering it yourself, taking home your hand bottled spirit to share with friends and family!
Aval Dor Cornish Gin Glamorous Gold winner
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