INTRODUCING: COOPER KING DISTILLERY
YORKSHIRE SPIRIT. TASMANIAN INSPIRATION.
An architect and a scientist go travelling around Tasmania, fall in love with whisky and decide to build their own distillery back home in Yorkshire. It sounds like a slightly ambitious holiday souvenir - and definitely more expensive than a bar of Toblerone - but that's exactly how Cooper King began.
Chris Jaume and Abbie Neilson returned to England inspired by the small, independent whisky makers they'd met.
Today, they're making some of England's most interesting whisky, challenging conventions, experimenting with different techniques and putting sustainability at the heart of everything they do.
And we've got something particularly exciting for you this month. One sold-out release, and one experimental single cask that's never been commercially released.
Let's taste...
Whisky No.1: COOPER KING PORT-BOUND
Sometimes, good whisky just needs a little longer.
Port-Bound was originally destined for release last Christmas, but when the team tasted it, they decided it wasn't quite ready. So they gave it another four months in those small tawny port casks.
We're rather glad they did.
Rich, fruity and full of delicious dark sweetness, this is a lovely example of what Cooper King's long fermentations and carefully chosen casks can produce. And with the release now sold out at the distillery, it's a treat to be able to share it.
48.5% ABV - 1 of just 924 bottles
Tasting notes: Maple syrup, rum & raisin ice cream, sticky prunes, muscovado sugar, marmalade and coffee crema.
Whisky No.2: Cooper King 4 Hour Cold Smoked
Now for something a little different.
Peated whisky normally gets its smoky character from drying malted barley over a peat fire. But Cooper King wondered what would happen if they smoked the cask instead.
Working with Master Cooper Alastair Simms, they created a cold-smoker and experimented with three first-fill bourbon casks. One was left untouched, one was smoked over peat for an hour, and the third for four hours.
The three casks were eventually married together to create Cooper King's Smoked Cask release. But what about the four-hour cask on its own?
That's what you're tasting.
This experimental single cask has never been commercially released. It's usually reserved for special tastings, so we're thrilled that Chris and Abbie have let us share it with the Slow Whisky Club.
It's exactly the sort of whisky we created this club to discover.
59.5% ABV – Single Cask
Tasting notes: [To be confirmed]
ABOUT COOPER KING
From Tasmania to Yorkshire
There's something rather wonderful about the Cooper King story.
Chris and Abbie weren't born into whisky-making. He was an architect, she was a scientist, and in 2014 they decided to leave their careers behind and travel.
In Tasmania, they discovered an extraordinary community of small whisky producers. They visited distilleries across the island, learned from Australian whisky pioneer Bill Lark, and saw what could be achieved with a little ingenuity, a lot of determination and a genuine love of making great spirits.
So in 2016, they returned to Yorkshire to build a distillery of their own.
And we really do mean build.
With the help of their founding members, friends and family, they converted an old stable block in Sutton-on-the-Forest into a working distillery. Today, everything from fermentation and distillation to maturation and bottling takes place on site.
Making whisky their own way
Cooper King uses 100% floor-malted English Maris Otter barley, with long fermentations of up to seven days (which in the whisky world is a long time), before being distilled in a 900-litre copper pot still named Neilson, after Abbie.
2 cool things about this still - and then we promise not to nerd out too much after - the paint on it is actually from NASA, which regulates the still temperature and keeps the heat inside the still. Secondly, the still actually was actually custom made in Tasmania for them.
They also love experimenting with different casks and maturation techniques. This month's Port-Bound and 4 Hour Cold Smoked are two brilliant examples of how differently the same distillery can approach whisky-making.
Good whisky shouldn't cost the earth
Sustainability has been part of the plan since the beginning.
They produced England's first net zero energy whisky, use 100% renewable energy at the distillery, and support the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust through their bottle sales.
Even their smoked cask experiments have a bigger purpose.
Peat bogs are important carbon stores, so Cooper King is exploring whether smoking casks with alternative local materials could offer a more sustainable way to create smoky whisky. They’ve got all sorts of smoked experiments planned, including heather from the North York Moors.
It's a fascinating idea, and one we're excited to see develop.
