Guide to Craft Distilling

The Craft Distillers’ Handbook is an excellent guide to craft distilling in the UK, whether you want to do it at home or are thinking of going into business.

I’m sure everyone who enjoys drinking spirits wonders at some time or other about making them. It may just be a hankering after having your own little still at home and trying your hand at it, or may be grander ambitions, like starting a commercial distillery. Whichever it is, this is the book for you.

This guide to craft distilling is now in its third edition since being first published in 2015, so that tells you something about the level of interest in making your own spirits. The author is Ted Bruning, who has been involved in the drinks business and writing about it for many years. His other books include The Bar Owner’s Handbook, The Microbrewers’ Handbook, and London Dry: The Real History of Gin, so he’s a man who knows his way around the drinks industry.

Guide to Craft Distilling

In his Introduction the author points out the increased interest in craft distilling. When the first edition of his book came out in 2015 there were 182 distilleries registered with HM Revenue and Customs (who loom large in the book). By 2019 there were 441, and in 2020 over 560. If that isn’t a boom then I don’t know what is!

The author does a good job of keeping the balance between encouraging people by letting them know what’s involved, and being hard-nosed about the difficulties (and investment) involved if you hope to go beyond the home distilling stage and actually start a commercial distillery.

‘An entry-level whisky distillery,’ he writes, ‘according to one consultant, will cost an absolute minimum of £100,000 to equip… The start-up costs at the Cotswold Distillery near Banbury came in at £2,000,000, with a further £2,500,000 invested in subsequent development.’

Case Studies

The Cotswold Distillery also features as one of the ten Case Studies that appear throughout the book. These are fascinating profiles of people who have already done just what you are planning to do – start a distillery. They are also my only criticism of the book’s design. Did no-one notice how hard it is to read black text on a dark grey background?

The Introduction makes it clear that the book ‘will not teach you how to distil.’ However, it isn’t only a book about the practical side of equipping and running a distillery. In Chapter Two, ‘Meet the Family’, Bruning gives a run-down on the various spirits you might consider distilling in the UK, with a bit about their history and a few things to consider. He points out the recent boom in UK rums, mentioning that the country imports lots of molasses for the baking and catering trades, so there’s no problem getting your hands on some.

Other chapters deal with your initial planning, the legal aspect if you’re going to distil at home or on special premises, how to buy the things you’ll need and what they cost, and a vital chapter on sales and marketing. Here the author points out the all-important truth that while problems in any department of a business can cause the company to fail, only the sales and marketing department will make it succeed.

Appendices

If you’re serious about distilling then the final Appendices alone will make this book worth buying. They include HMRC regulations, and provide lists of trade and professional associations, and of equipment suppliers. As a final note, remember this book is aimed at the UK market. If you’re not in the UK you’ll still find it an interesting read about how to start a craft distillery, but the practical advice deals with the UK.