Hepple Spirits: Distilling Their Own Way
Only a wander in the windswept Northumbrian fells can cast light on how these landscapes have inspired Hepple Spirits’ unique distilling process. For Walter Riddell, when both you and your business has grown from the Hepple Estate, safeguarding the future of its flora and fauna becomes a task of the upmost importance.
The spiralling gin renaissance continues whetting the appetite for those who are intrigued in carving out a career in the spirit making industry; but in a saturated market, how do you set yourself apart from other distilleries? From a small corner of Northumberland, the team at Hepple have poured everything into crafting distinctive spirits that stand tall on shelves in some of the most respected food and drink establishments across the globe. How Hepple have achieved this, is by having the courage to stray from tradition, experimenting a little, and harnessing the seemingly bottomless expertise of their impassioned team. We spent a morning with Walter Riddell, the keeper and cultivator of Hepple Estate and Managing Director of Hepple Spirits, discovering more about what makes Hepple different, the team behind the operation and how Walter is safeguarding his surroundings for generations to come.
It’s a late May morning on the Hepple Estate, the air is fresh, and dark clouds are appearing on the horizon. Standing beside Walter, we look out over the vast rugged moors that characterise the Northumberland National Park. In the far distance, wild horses prance on the peaks of the encompassing fells, and to our left a herd of long-horned cattle go about their day. This land possesses a subtle beauty, bleak, yet enchanting, and full of natural wonder.
Setting foot towards the heart of the estate, we learn that juniper is the only botanical which is present in all gins. The cones of a juniper bush, or ‘juniper berries’ as they’re commonly referred to, are required by legal statute to be present and perceptible for a spirit to be classed as a gin. With an abundance of naturally existing juniper bushes dotted throughout the estate, Hepple is fortunate to possess a wealth of the required natural ingredient within a stone’s throw from their distillery. Eager to show us his adored collection, Walter takes us to one of the estate’s most prosperous bushes which is abound with plump green berries. Walter’s enthusiasm is infectious as he explains the unique quirks and characteristics of his shrubs. Staggeringly, many of the bushes here date back centuries, some are over 400-years old. As male seedlings do not produce berries, it is the females that are his favourites. Affectionately, Walter has named most of the ancient female bushes after his many aunts. One in particular, Miriam, has had an extremely rare and distinctive elixir developed from a combination of her ripe purple berries, fresh green berries, perfumed needles and fragrant wood. Sadly, Miriam is now sold out, with only 266 bottles having ever been produced.
Juniper is indisputably the hero ingredient of the signature Hepple Gin, and it is imperative for the longevity of the business that Hepple Spirits protect their fundamental component. Walter and his wife, Lucy, now lead a propagation programme aiming to safeguard their shrubs, which is one of the last remaining wild sanctuaries of juniper in Britain. Ripened purple berries are harvested from older bushes, seeds are removed, and set aside to germinate. It takes around 2-years before the seedlings will be ready for planting. Hepple often invite customers and gin enthusiasts to the estate to plant seedlings for themselves – On a tour of Northumberland in 2018, the Prince of Wales dropped by to plant his own bush within the estate. Since the propagation programme commenced, four-hundred seedlings have been rooted in the soil. It will take around 15-years for the shrubs to mature to a stage where they can produce enough berries to warrant a harvest. This is a slow process, but one which will ensure these bushes are protected and replenished for years to come.
After getting up close and personal with the vital ingredient, we were then invited into the flavour house to learn more about what separates Hepple Spirits from other distillers. Behind the doors of the distillery is an expressive and experimental laboratory where ‘flavour masters’ work towards one principal goal – to capture ingredients fully and faithfully, so that they taste as alive in the bottle as they do on the land. Following years huddled around distilling pots, endless experimentation and industry leading research, the team determined the best way to capture the true essence of each ingredient is to distil in three different dimensions – this is where Hepple’s unique triple technique was born. The first stage begins where other gins usually end, in the traditional copper pot still, delivering a meticulously smooth, one-shot heart cut, much like a classic London Dry. Vacuum distillation shortly follows to draw out the vibrant freshness of the handpicked green juniper berries. Finally, depth of flavour is achieved through supercritical extraction, a technique previously reserved for the perfume industry. The result is a velvety, pure taste unlike any other. Hepple Gin is their most popular spirit, however the team also distil Hepple Sloe and Hawthorn Gin, Hepple Douglas Fir flavoured Vodka, Hepple, Juniper Aged Martini, and Hepple Juniper Negroni.
The triple technique is the outcome of harnessing the extensive knowledge and expertise of Scientist Cairbry Hill and Master Distiller Chris Garden, who take care of the creation. Valentine Warner is Hepple’s pairing expert and ingredient hunter, ensuring what goes into the bottles will complement one another. Once the spirits are bottled, it is over to Nick Strangeway who brings the liquid to life, creating exquisite cocktails and exploring wild and wonderful combinations. To learn more, tune in every Tuesday afternoon on Instagram (@hepple_spirits) for one of Nick and Walter’s legendary ‘Tuesday Tipples’. The team of moorlander’s is complete with Sophie Jobling, who keeps the accounts in check, and Anna Davison, Hepple’s marketing maestro.
After an insightful interlude sheltering from the brisk northerly wind, we venture back out onto the moorland to find out more about the surrounding area and Walter’s vision for the future. We learn that Walter grew up adventuring in these rugged landscapes, and after decades away, has recently returned to his beloved home in Northumberland. Now keeper of the land and increasingly environmentally aware, he is eager to implement an extensive rewilding programme across huge swathes of his family’s 4000-acre estate. Since 2020, with the help of a full-time ecologist, he has embarked on an innovative land management plan, aiming to allow greater natural regeneration of Hepple’s wild flora and fauna. As part of this, the removal of walls, barriers and fencing throughout the estate allows newly introduced livestock to roam free and encourages natural propagation of the indispensable wild juniper; Wild horses in need of a scratch will rub up against the shrubs, dispersing berries from the branches and passing heavy hooves will unknowingly embed these into the earth. Appreciating that both Walter and his business have grown from the soil here at Hepple, you can understand why he is so dedicated to ensuring the activities undertaken on the land are both responsible and sustainable. It’s Walter’s vision that over the coming years the spirit of Hepple will become increasingly unshackled, and the flavours captured will be ever more wonderful.
