Bimber Distillery in London was founded in 2015 and started producing their first spirit in May 2016. The Bimber distillery is based in a warehouse in an unprepossessing corner of North Acton in northwest London but was making waves in the whisky scene even before the release of their inaugural single malt whisky in September 2019. Bimber's distillery capacity may be tiny - only around one ex-bourbon barrel per day can be filled - but the ethos is purely quality-focused and the resulting English single malt whiskies have far exceeded expectations.
Bimber Distillery
Founded: 2015
Stills: 1 Wash Still, 1 Spirit Still
Water Source: Thames Basin
Capacity: 42,000 LPA
Owners: Independently owned (Ewelina Chruszczyk)
An independently-owned and operated distillery, every part of the single malt whisky production process at Bimber is done using traditional methods - the distillery sources high quality barley from a Hampshire farm, which is then traditionally floor-malted. Bimber’s malt is crushed rather than milled and undergoes temperature-controlled fermentation for a whole week in homemade wooden washbacks using Bimber’s own specially-designed proprietary yeasts.
These processes are all performed with the goal of producing a clear wort with the highest possible esters, which gives the best chance of producing a high quality fruity spirit after distillation. Bimber run their very small direct-fired alembic stills extremely slowly to produce a full-bodied distillate, discarding the foreshots and feints instead of redistilling them, as is the common practice elsewhere.
In contrast to many other new distillery startups, Bimber are not in thrall to wood finishes or exotic wine casks, instead using mostly ex-bourbon casks to mature their whisky, with a small proportion of new oak and genuine ex-sherry casks. The distillery also has its own cooperage to keep incoming casks in good repair, or to recooper as necessary.
Bimber’s small size and huge success led the founders to seek to expand, and in 2023 they opened a new 200,000 litre capacity Scottish whisky distillery at Dunphail near Forres in Speyside, just a few miles south from the closed Dallas Dhu distillery.
With such a small capacity, bottles of Bimber’s English single malt whisky are generally quite difficult to come by. A great many single casks have been released for different markets globally, but are generally snapped up on release - the best bet for someone looking to find a bottle of Bimber whisky are the small batch releases, which recently included the distillery's first Bimber 8-year-old age statement editions.
As well as whisky, Bimber also produce a small number of gins infused with exotic botanicals - the high strength Bimber Da Hong Pao Tea Gin, infused with a rare Japanese Oolong tea, is particularly excellent.