Distillery 7 of 40
137 Distillery – Newbury, Berkshire
Producers of Lumber’s Bartholomew Gin
At the back of the Newbury pub is an unsuspecting door, and through the door is a magical world of gin, and it is the brainchild of Pete Lumber. One wall is lined with botanicals, and other such weird and wonderful things infusing in mason jars. Another houses the 2 copper stills that Pete uses to distil his Lumber’s Bartholomew Gins. And along the back wall are a couple of very large boardroom style tables flanked on both sides by leather backed chairs. Everything is as Pete has designed it.
Pete himself is not your usual distiller, but to see what I mean you have to come out to Newbury to meet him in person.
We started off tasting Gin No. 1, the Lumber’s Bartholomew London Dry Gin, this is Pete’s award winning gin. It is heavily juniper forward, yet very easy to drink and is the base for all of Pete’s other creations. Aside from the juniper it is full of coriander, angelica, cassia and orris root. Spice comes through courtesy of Grains of Paradise. It pairs well simply with a premium tonic, nothing flavoured as you will not be able to appreciate the simple complexity of this gin.
Next up we started to make our own gin, choosing the botanicals carefully – juniper, coriander, cassia, angelica & orris already prepared for us as these are key to making a decent gin – but we could then add whatever we wanted. White Pepper would bring creaminess, elderberries a floral note and bilberries a blueberry fruitiness, the possibilities were endless. In our little air still we placed botanicals chosen to represent the trifecta, orange & lemon for citrus, grains of paradise for the spice and lemongrass to bring a little dryness.
While the botanicals danced in the stills, we tasted Gin No.2 the Berkshire Dry, where the addition of cardamom adds warmth and a little more spice. Pete suggests trying this one with ginger and boy does that make the gin sing, it some how gives it so much more complexity, it smooths it out while creating a bigger, bolder personality yet adds a little sweetness.
Pete is completely self taught and has very much developed a less is more philosophy because it’s easier to add things to create balance, but much more difficult to remove them. This philosophy is apparent in the third gin we tried, the 58% ABV Navy Strength. But this almost feels like a juxtaposition with his personality which doesn’t feel paired back, but instead is far bolder.
The Navy Strength is based on the fourth and final gin in Pete’s current portfolio, the Country Garden, which was elegant and sophisticated, the perfect note to finish the evening on, filled with french lavender, cardamom and elderberries you want this to be sweet on the palate but it is in fact deceivingly savoury. Pete describes this as the perfect gin for BBQs on a warm summer day. It leaves you wanting more.
Pete is incredibly open and honest, he talks about moving from Bristol to Newbury and building his businesses from the ground up. Taking on a failing pub and turning it into one of the best in the area. Everything is tied together for him, the pub at the front, distillery at the back in what used to be the old smoking garden, the name 137 comes from the pubs address on 137 Bartholomew Street, 137 (1+3+7) also adds up to 11 which is the number of botanicals Pete uses in his base gin.
Now our gins are also ready and despite the base botanicals all being exactly the same, the little additions have made them all very unique and different – much like Pete’s own range of gins. I cannot wait to see what comes next for this fiercely independent distillery and distiller.
The Girl Who Loves Gin 