The Chase Vodka Story

The Chase Vodka story starts with English potatoes and with the discovery of craft spirits in the USA, leading to this English vodka being World’s Best Vodka.

Life came full circle for William Chase, founder and owner of the UK’s first single-estate distillery, in the rural county of Herefordshire. It was on a visit to the USA in 2006 that he first discovered craft spirits, and was so inspired that he went back to England and started work on building his own distillery. And finally, ten years later, his award-winning spirits went on sale in the USA, where they remain popular today.

The Start of That Chase Vodka Story

On that first visit he was actually looking for frying equipment, as his family farm was famous in the UK for producing Tyrrells, one of the country’s best-known brands of potato chips (called crisps in England). He found his fryers but he also found craft spirits.

“I first discovered true craft spirits,” Chase says, “by visiting a few bars in the evenings and trying many new spirits that had recently been introduced to the market. The US government had just pulled restrictions for still sizes and craft distilling, like brewing, had started to push on. My palate had never tried these amazingly unique spirits. The UK still churned out a lot of industrial matter. And that was it, hooked! Realising we produced a lot of potatoes originally too small to fry, I decided to build the UK’s first single-estate distillery.”

The result was that after launching Chase Potato Vodka in the UK in 2008, it was voted World’s Best Vodka at the 2010 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. To what does he owe that acclaim?

“To every member of the team,” he says. “We have so many superstars and the success of the distillery is attributed to their immense hard work and dedication. The spirit itself is also incredibly unique. There are very few potato-based spirits around. It’s a remarkably expensive process. Also, the copper pot and 42-plate rectification column (the tallest in the world) really does distil our family-farmed potatoes into something truly beautiful.”

The team-work is echoed in the fact that the distillery doesn’t have a Master Distiller.

“Technically I’m the Master Distiller,” Chase explains, “and along with my sons James and Harry, who are both involved in the business, together we sign off every batch. I’ve met a few ‘Master Distillers’ over the years and think they are more marketing than day-to-day craftsmen. I’ve always refused to use the word Master Distiller. The term gets used way too easily, and I believe it should be something bestowed to an individual after many years of hard work.”

Chase built on his original success in the UK by expanding his range to include an English Oak Smoked Vodka, a Seville Orange Marmalade Vodka and an Elderflower Liqueur, all of which are now finally available in the USA. Also on the way stateside is the company’s first gin, redistilled from their original potato vodka using botanicals chosen for the way they work with that base spirit.

And what would William Chase like bartenders in particular to know about his potato vodka?

“That they are getting value for money,” he says. “The spirit trickles off the still exceptionally slowly, and I can honestly track each potato down to the very field it came from on the farm! On average there are 250 Herefordshire potatoes in every bottle of Chase. That’s a lot of potatoes! But the conditions are exceptional for a great harvest this year. And if you’re ever in England, do come and say hello.”