Grain Artisan – The Jewel of Derbyshire

Standing at the bottom of a very steep hill in Matlock, you have to wonder whether it is worth the trek up to Grain Artisan’s little micro distillery, and it most definitely is. I met Becky through instagram, I had tried and subsequently bought their English Orchard Gin through the Gin Jamboree at Stockport Town Hall, and completely fell in love with it’s fruit filled vibrancy but not many people had heard of it and I wanted to see if there was anything I could do to help get the brand out there, so I reached out.

Becky invited me across to Matlock and I spent the afternoon with her learning about the brand, the gin range and what drives their passion for what they create. The distillery feels more like Willy Wonka’s factory than a distillery and looks more like an art gallery than what I expected, I’ve been to whiskey distilleries before where the air is heavy with the smell of hops and the rooms are filled with large stills and mash tuns. Instead here you walk through the door of the old wine & spirits merchants to a beautiful selection of local artistry flanked by a wall of Grain Artisan Gin that looks luminescent.

Around the corner there is an old record player and the distillery where you will find Becky tinkering away with botanicals that she has foraged to create the most amazing gins. Some are sold as their Batch Ten – these are very very small batch productions of things like Grapefruit Tea Gin, Mint & Licorice or Rhubarb Crumble. Only 4 or 5 bottles are distilled and tend to disappear as quickly as they are made.

Then there is the core range, and that consists of the English Orchard gin I had tasted as well as a Classic Signature Gin, the summer strawberry filled Kaleidoscope Gin and the opulent looking colour changing Derbyshire Blue – since I visited, they have added a Matlock Marmalade that I cannot wait to try my guess is it will be jammed (pun intended) full of Orange Bittersweetness.

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My favourite is the Derbyshire Blue, it glistens in the sunlight like a jewel, it is packed full of English Mint and Blueberry and gets it’s colour from Pea Flower Tea. Adding tonic is like a touch of theatre as the colour changes from the deep sapphire blue to vibrant violet.

The gin is great neat over ice as the mint is very prominent, but equally carries a premium tonic just exquisitely, as the blueberry fruitiness then also makes an appearance. For me it is the quintessential English Countryside Gin.

Firstly follow Becky on Instagram @grainartisan as this is where she posts about her latest ginsperiments, what Batch Ten gins are available and what is new in the core range. Secondly if you find yourself in Derbyshire, then this is definitely a hill worth climbing to see what Becky has brewing in the gin still.