Georgian era

In 1807 Ralph Dodd proposed to build a distillery in Nine Elms, London. The company, to be called The London Distillery Company, took receipt of monies and share subscriptions for transferable shares. Dodd created a board of directors from prominent peers and engineers, partly prompted by Dodd's involvement with an 1806 business proposal for the Vauxhall Bridge Company.

The board of directors comprised: James Heygate,^[11][12] Ralph Dodd, John Taylor, William Clay, William Norris, Fenwick Bulmer, Samuel Sharpe, John Moore, Matthew Wilson, James Norris, John Calvert Clarke, Thomas Rolle, Abraham Walker, John Moore and Christopher Dunkin.^[13]

Following a complaint by a prominent Essex-based corn distillery headed by Tory MP Philip Metcalfe the English Crown brought a case against Dodd and The London Distillery Company under the 1720 Bubble Act. This was after raising funds, assembling staff and acquiring the Old Water Mill at Nine Elms on the Thames for £12,000. As the first case to be made under this act the Crown hired barrister Sir William Garrow as prosecutor. Dodd lost the case and the business was disbanded.^[14]

21st century business

Fermentation

For single malt whisky and rye, TLDC uses two 2,200 litre stainless steel fermenters from Christian CARL.

TLDC uses organic grains and traditional London yeast varieties such as Whitbread B and Young's which are propagated as a liquid yeast slurry by Surebrew. Both were used for early-stage fermentation trails by Rook in December 2013.^[25]

Rum production began in early 2017 and used 600ltr ex-wine barrels converted to fermentation vessels by company founder Darren Rook. TLDC uses fresh organic sugar cane juice blended with dissolved organic rapadura sugar from Costa Rica and a combination of wild yeast and ale yeast. During initial trials, Rook created a dunder pit using British fruits and pot ale.

Distillation

The London Distillery Company Ltd currently operates two pot stills.

For whisky production, they distil on a 650 litres copper pot still with a 4 plate distillation column which was manufactured in Stuttgart, Germany. Manufactured by Christian CARL GmbH, Germany's oldest distillery fabricator since 1869,^[26] the still head was designed by Darren Rook.

TLDC uses a Buchi R2 rotary evaporator for part of its gin production process.

The 109s

The 109 casks were launched in November 2012 as a part of The London Distillery Company's involvement with the men's health charity Movember.^[27]

Rye Whisky

TLDC launched its first Rye whisky aged in English oak casks in 2018.

It was made using organic malted British Rye from Warminster Maltings and a brewers yeast from the early 1900s stored at the national yeast library.^[28]

Single Malt

Launched in February 2019 TLDC first single malt whisky was produced by the company founder Darren Rook using 100% Plummage Archer, a rare variety of organic barley grown on the Duchy Estates by the HRH Prince of Wales. The Plummage Archer malt was created in 1914, and accounted for 80% of all brewing and distilling in the 1960s; it's believed to be a parent of the Maris Otter.

The wort was then fermented with two types of yeast. TLDC's own 1920s Distiller and early varietal of Whitbread Bfrom yeast specialist Surebrew in Surrey.^[28]

TESTBED1

In collaboration with Dr Jason Grizzanti^[29][30] the Company pioneered a new gin category: Anglo-American Gin,^[31] acting as a crossover between the juniper-forward London Dry Gins and the more experimental New Western styles of American gins.^[32]

The first release from the TESTBED range gives people the opportunity to chart the various stages of gin development. The gin gets its distinct complexity from varying proportions of unique, organic botanicals – including bilberry, lovage root and lavender.^[33] South London freelance artist Jasmin Ford illustrated the package artwork.

Dodd's Gin

Dodd's gin was launched in April 2013 with luxury retailer Fortnum & Mason.^[34] Created by Rook, and trainee distiller Andrew Macleod Smith, it was released as a tribute to Ralph Dodd. It is bottled at 49.9% ABV.

The recipe includes juniper, angelica, lime peel, bay laurel, green and black cardamom, red raspberry leaf and London honey. The label design was done by Manchester-based agency, United Creative and was inspired by the geometry used in the early 1800s.^[35] In 2017 TLDC released an Old Tom version of Dodd's Gin as a permanent addition to the range.

The brand has also released several limited edition versions of Dodd's Gins exclusively with Fortnum & Mason. This includes a barrel-aged and honey variant.^[36]

Fortnum & Mason London Dry Gin

In 2015, TLDC rebranded, redeveloped and relaunched Fortnum & Mason's London dry gin in partnership with the iconic London based retailer.^[37]

Fortnum's gin was initially made by Thames Distillers using a classic London Dry Gin recipe and was presented in a 700ml drinks industry standard bottle with a simple black and silver label. Rook and the team at United Creatives changed the bottle to a 500ml format and updated the label to include the Fortnum & Mason's brand colours whilst drawing inspiration from the store's architecture and original clock logo.

The gin recipe was developed using the Fortnum & Mason's archives to research ingredients from the store's tea and spice trading heritage. TLDC uses organic botanicals such as bergamot peel, nutmeg and juniper in the recipe.

Kew Organic Gin

Kew Organic Gin launched in 2016 under an exclusive license with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. It uses plants foraged from the gardens including Santolina, Lavender and Eucalyptus.^[38]

In 2017, brand extensions were added to include an orange liqueur, Orangery, and a navy style gin, Explorers Strength. Developed by Rook they are intended to tell the Royal Botanic garden history of securing and conserving plants from around the world.^[39]