Taste Review #155 – Bimber Santa Edition.
There’s a sign on the wall, but she wants to be sure
Led Zeppelin – Stairway to Heaven
‘Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings
You know how it is awful to see Christmas stuff in the shops around August / September time? Well, I know that December is the time for Christmas, but this review is a bit late. A year late. Those of you who read my last blog will have realised that often I can take a bit of time to do things, notably DIY and blog writing. I’m an expert procrastinator at times, but like whisky they often say that it’s best to wait, for the best stuff doesn’t arrive as quickly as it is possible.
As much as my 2023 was sparse of new whiskies to taste, it was also sparse for music. I have finally succumbed to online services, with few CDs being bought but most importantly there were only two gigs attended. Both were at opposite ends of the spectrum, with one being the Pet Shop Boys, the other being the masters of goth – The Sisters of Mercy. Some of you may know of them, some may even still like them, but I’m not going to hold my breath. Needless to say while the Pet Shop Boys was a treat for the wife, The Sisters was a solo run to Newcastle.
What most people won’t know about the Sisters Of Mercy was they had a side project called The Sisterhood. It was in response to the breakup of the band after the first album, and Wayne Hussey with Craig Adams wanted to use the name for their band. Andrew Eldritch rushed an album through under the Sisterhood name called “Gift”, thus preventing Hussey and Adams using the Sisterhood name. They went onto form The Mission and became mildly successful.
Eldritch went on to give the ultimate two fingers to his former band mates. The first track on the album “Jihad” was an electronic track with a vocalist repeating the words “Two, Five, Zero, Zero, Zero”. Seems a bit odd, but it turns out it was the royalties due to the band members that were in respect of the second Sisters Of Mercy album that was never made. Rather than split the £25000, Eldritch planned to take it all. He failed, the contract was cancelled, nobody got the money, and both groups went on to form their own careers.
If you think this was bitter and twisted, by this point, Eldritch was based in Germany. The word Gift there actually means “Poison”. Trust me, this was no mistake, and probably went over the heads of the Mission, just like the repeated numerals on Jihad reportedly did until a lot later.
And then we move onto the whisky, in which the distillery name also has two meanings. Many people reading this will be familiar with the Bimber distillery, but I don’t know how many people will know that Bimber is the Polish word for moonshine. Fortunately, this is a legitimate distillery located in London and was founded in 2015 by Dariusz Plazewski, with the first casks being laid down in 2016. Since then the distillery has gone from strength to strength, so much so that a second distillery has been opened in Dunphail, within Speyside, just to the south of Forres.
I have enjoyed every Bimber I have tried thus far, but it’s a distillery that I never connected with too deeply, solely because living where I live and having a cornucopia of whisky available locally, I’ve not paid much attention to the brand. That is until a bottle of whisky turned up unexpectedly just before Christmas. While I have been discussing double meanings, at least I know that this gift wasn’t poisonous. The bottle in question is the 2023 Santa Edition, and it is this bottle I’ll be reviewing later on. But how can I review such a whisky without knowing a lot about the distillery? Fortunately I was able to get time to visit while obtaining a US Visa at the London Embassy.
Bimber distillery is very easy to walk past and it can’t be more unlike a distillery if it tried. The area is occupied by many a garage workshop, and I even was able to walk past Sunbeam Road without seeing it. Retracing my steps soon brought me to the Eagles head sign above the front door. And once you are inside, the smells let you know you are indeed inside a distillery. Entering the front door, there is a reception / tasting area with displays of Bimber bottlings past and present. With a warm greeting from Arnold Harrison, the account and Customer Relationship manager, it was only a matter of time before Matt Mckay, the Bimber Marketing and Communications director arrived and a tour was given of the distillery, with access all areas and unrestricted photo taking. Other distilleries should take note.
Having been to one or two distilleries in the past, it’s helpful to forget how it’s done elsewhere, while although Bimber follow the same principles, they don’t necessarily follow the same process, something that will help create their own unique spirit. You really have to get into the mind of the European bootlegger. Firstly, the barley used comes from a single farm in Hampshire, with Concerto and Laureate being the variant used. The grain is taken to Warminster Maltings, where it is malted in the traditional way using a floor malting. But we now move into the realm of the illicit distiller, where the malted grain isn’t milled, it is merely cracked. This is then mashed in the one ton stainless mash tun .
From mashing, the wort is transferred into one of seven American Oak washbacks for fermentation. Fermentation time is around the 168hr mark, and using lightly charred oak, this allows natural bacteria to form that wouldn’t be present in a stainless vessel. This enhances the fermentation once the yeast has died off by generating a malolactic fermentation which will create even more fruity esters which is ever present in Bimber new make.
Just as in every other distillery, the next process is distillation, where the wash is emptied into the wash still. Matt explained that they had recently upgraded the wash still. Previously, the distillery used two alembic stills, with a capacity of 1000 litres. The wash still has been changed for a more traditional pot still, with double the capacity at 2000 litres. Both stills are direct fired, which creates a Maillaird effect. Now, geeky as I am, I had to look that one up, and its similar to the browning of food, which is almost caramelised. This gives more flavour compounds and an oily mouthfeel to the spirit. Condensing of the spirit vapours is carried out via a shell and tube condenser.
It was envisaged at the start to make Bimber in a way that wasn’t too far removed from the traditional methods of making moonshine, so you may notice that there is no spirit safe. Cuts are done not by measuring but by sampling. Spirit runs off into milk churn-like vessels, not some massive spirit receiver. From here, the new make is casked. Matt explained how cask quality is a big thing for the company, using Ex Bourbon, sherry or Virgin casks, or other smaller batch casks such as the one I will review below, which was a Cognac cask.
Bimber was never planned to be a large production facility, and this is what has traditionally limited the amount of spirit available. Demand for Bimber has always outpaced supply, although not in the same way as a whisky like Springbank has. It used to be that to get a Bimber release, you’d have to be quick off the mark as they often sold out instantly, and from an enthusiast point of view it seems to have calmed down a bit, but it still seems like the only way to get some of London Single Malt Whisky is to either be lucky in a ballot or purchase it at auction. Certainly, in the past this is how I’ve managed to obtain Bimber, though it was great to be able to purchase directly from the source during my visit.
The tour ended with 6 generous samples of Bimber bottlings past and present, which since I hadn’t eaten very much due to catching a red-eye flight from Inverness first thing in the morning left me a little bit squiffy. Looking at my notes, there’s nothing there that makes much sense, and much less can I read my own scrawl, but let’s just say each one hit my palate in a different but very pleasant way. I sprung for a bottle of the rum cask, which for me is a bit of a departure of form, as while I enjoy rum, I’m not usually a fan of rum casked whiskies. The pursuit of excellence has certainly helped convert me to a finish I’m not normally prone to drinking.
This brings me nicely to the tasting of the Santa edition. I received this unexpectedly in Dec 2023, along with a 5cl miniature and a Bimber branded Copita glass. I don’t normally review whiskies that have been supplied to me gratis, as I feel uneasy about it. However, given the fact that this has been released and sold out for some time, I feel that I’m not acting as an influencer, but simply reflecting my thoughts on what was supplied with no real commerical obligation. The fact it was free does not have any bearing on my opinions.
Bimber Santa Edition 2023
Region – England Age – NAS Strength – 52.1% Colour – Burnished (1.1) Cask Type – Ex-Cognac Colouring -No Chill Filtered -No
Nose – Quite fruity and slightly sweet. Red apple, grape juice, plums, vanilla and a hint of milk chocolate.
Palate – Despite its higher abv, this didn’t have an agressive arrival at all. Stone fruit is the order of the day, with plums leading the charge, with a hint of liquorice, treacle, apple sauce. Bit of wood spice there too, but not particularly drying.
Finish – to me this was shorter than expected but on reflection had a nice fruit taste lingering afterwards. Water increased the intensity of the flavours, but further shortened the finish.
Thoughts
A very pleasant whisky, and one certainly suited to evenings by the fire. I was braced for something more aggressive given the ABV and the relatively young age. There is an underlying fruity note with a warming hint of wood spice and the influence of the Cognac, but is well within balance. If you got this as a present, then you would be delighted.
Postscript
I have to thank Matt for taking time out of his very busy schedule to show me around the Bimber distillery. It was great to meet him after a few years of online correspondence. Matt is also responsible for an excellent whisky blog – The Dramble. If you haven’t seen this before, then I recommend that you do – it is certainly insightful and for me inspirational. Like me, he hasn’t been too active on his blog, but if I thought he was busy then the week after my visit, all hell broke loose with the relevations about founder, Dariusz, leading a double life and facing historical charges back home in Poland.
I’ve chosen not to speculate on these, and is somewhat a moot point now, as Dariusz has no legal responsiblity for Bimber distillery, with it passing onto Matt and co-founder Ewelina Chruszczyk for now. Matt has since moved onto the revitalisation of the London Distillery Company. However what is sad is the amount of speculation that some whisky enthusiasts made about the fate of Bimber. However, nearly a year on, the distillery seems to continue to thrive, and so it should. It has started to bottle an age stated whisky (8 years old) and the special editions keep coming – the latest being The Shoulders of Giants. I’ve got some of these and we’ll be looking at these later. And if you know me well, that could be much later!
Thanks to Arthur and Matt for a great visit to Bimber, and I look forward to a return visit at some point.
Lastly, congratulations to Matt – I see your latest blog has a somewhat humble confession that it’s been a while since the last post!!
Yours In Spirits
Scotty
Photo Credits
Andrew Eldritch – Post-Punk.com
The Sisterhood “Gift” CD – Amazon.de
All Other Photos – Authors Own
Scotty’s Drams 