An exclusive evening hosted by Pete Lumber at his distillery in Newbury

INTRODUCTION

Tucked into the back corner of the Newbury Pub is a little wonderland, with shelves lined with curious bottles of botanicals and books.  Centre stage is a bespoke table with handmade leather seating and in the corner is a shiny copper and stainless steel still.  The alchemist at the helm, is Pete Lumber, who has designed every nook and cranny of his sanctuary, sourcing artwork and curiosities to adorn walls and shelves and ensuring that it's the perfect environment in which to create his award-winning spirits and introduce guests to them.  Pete's vision and creativity oozes from every corner of the room.  From the bottle labels designed by a graffiti artist, to the dripping wax on the lighter than normal glass bottle, everything has a handcrafted look and feel and showcases his fierce independence and desire to be unique and different.   His vision to create a series of spirits took 2 years to come to fruition and in early 2019 he opened the doors of 137 Distillery and Lumbers Bartholomew Gin was born.

Pete is passionate and a perfectionist, always striving to be better and compete with other gins in the same categories as his.  Consistency is key for him and he selects specific regions from which to source his botanicals in order to achieve this.  His vast knowledge of the industry aids him as a distiller and he is on top of market trends, whilst admitting openly that he will never do pink and he will never do gimmick!  No to glitter and the only unicorn that will ever be found in his distillery is part of a beautiful crest on the wall of the distillery.  This is a man who knows quality and will not settle for anything less.

But on to what the event was about...

GIN TASTING

I was honoured to be included on the guest list to an exclusive gin tasting and distilling evening to celebrate 137's first birthday.  During this event Pete talked us through each of his four gins and what his vision was when creating them all.

We started with tasting the London Dry, which is a juniper forward gin with key notes of citrus and spice.  This is a classic gin, which is smooth and fruity and would suit most palates.

We followed then with his Berkshire Dry gin, which by far was the most favourite of all the guests.  This gin is named after the county in which it's produced and has 11 botanicals - this is no coincidence or accident, but is Pete's masterful way of incorporating all elements of his life and business into his brand.  Add 1+3+7 together and you get 11.  137 is the street number of the address of the pub and Bartholomew is the street.    It's a warm punchy little number that contains grains of paradise, cardamom, clove, white pepper and cassia, but yet has a smooth mouthfeel.  Served with a premium tonic with a slice of lime or lemon, this brings out the citrus in the gin beautifully.  He also recommends serving this with a good quality ginger ale, but for me, the classic g&t is the best serve.  

Next up was Pete's favourite - the Navy Strength.  Not for the feint-hearted, this gin is bottled at 58%ABV and despite the high alcohol content, this is a really smooth gin.  With botanicals including lavender, elderberry, clove, coriander and citrus, along with a few secret ingredients, this is Pete's favourite gin and he openly admits it's the one that relaxes and puts him to sleep!

Lastly we tried Country Garden, which is Pete's way of transporting the drinker into a fragrant summery garden and naturally this one pairs perfectly with an elderflower tonic.  Botanicals include citrus, coriander and lavender - all the fragrances found in your perfect country garden.

DISTILLING 

Inbetween tasting, we were also introduced to a multitude of bottles and pots of botanicals and had the opportunity of selecting our favourites to include to a pre-measured bowl of base botanicals.  Juniper, coriander, angelica, cassia and orris root are botanicals included in most gins and they all perform a role in making the perfect spirit.  We worked in pairs to choose the flavour profile we wanted and handed over the reins to Master Distiller Pete, who used his vast knowledge and distilling skills to know exactly what measurements to use.  My gin buddy and I selected for the citrus element, lemon and orange,  for spice we chose grains of paradise and for dry we went with lemon grass.  In addition we added a few other botanicals to add sweetness and earthiness and some liquorice root, cardamom, elderberries and elderflower also went into the pot!  The airstills bubbled away and before long Pete was removing the heads and then our special blends came trickling out of the spouts.  The entire process was fascinating to watch, with Pete checking the APV of the distillate and ensuring only the hearts were saved, to be brought down to the correct APV to bottle, seal and wax for us.

In closing, it was an amazing evening, where we had the opportunity to learn first hand about 137 Distillery and the man behind it.  Pete offers tastings and gin making experiences, so should you wish to visit or book an experience, you can get in touch with him directly at 137gin.com or on social media.