Capreolus

The skills to capture botanical perfection, elegance and complexity encompassed only at the peak of ripeness, is a skill that few can possess. With an uncompromising focus, the Capreolus Distillery charts one man's passion in the pursuit of an absolute level of quality. Wild and expressive, limited editions are available to a lucky few.

The Cotswolds have been a constant influence through my life. Growing up in this most idyllic region of England I was surrounded by flower rich grasslands, ancient woodlands scented with lily of the valley, historic orchards and the wildlife that inhabited them. A love of nature was a natural development and led to my former life as a photojournalist specialising in conservation stories - supplying non-profit media to over 118 countries – a perfect way to find, experience and capture these rare and precious moments. Finding fruit distilling came as a natural extension to this discipline.

Years of working for my own consumption led to the development of my own purely quality driven practice. Capturing eaux de vie through wild fermentation of their natural sugar (atypical for low yielding fruits) and meticulous distillation, brought enormous compression; they preserve up to 45kg fruit in each finished litre. However, what enchanted me was how this elegant way of working, this capturing of pure essence, revealed so much. What I discovered was something that not only isolated a moment of peak ripeness but transported me to the parent plants and landscape in which I was raised. The elevation of flavours imperceptible in the raw fruit took me to standing in 300 year old perry pear orchards. The aroma of a Blackberry Eau de Vie to the autumnal warmth of the sun. The synesthetic link of aroma and flavour is something where language consistently fails.

The old lean to greenhouse of my childhood home, constructed of wood and Cotswold stone, was chosen to house first one and then two very special custom built copper stills. A decision to work only with local fruits for our eaux de vie was a simple choice. The quality of the local fruit. The rare varieties that had never been distilled before. The essential nature of needing fruit not when we want it but at its absolute moment of perfection. Our terroir, both in landscape and our unique maritime climate. All of these things meant that we could focus on spirits that revealed both heritage, locale and all of the potential of our chosen subjects.

I have to address the name Capreolus – it is the latin name of the most beautiful of all deer, the roe, Capreolus Capreolus. Delicate, slipping away, this animal is a constant accompaniment to picking in the surrounding countryside, a reminder of the fleeting nature of what we are trying to preserve.

It is much to my own bemusement that I find some of the world’s most respected sommeliers and bartenders championing us and placing us amongst the most iconic producers of wine and spirits. However, in terms of volume we will always be insignificant. The finite nature of what we do is a celebration of the rarity of the subjects we work with and assures this. It is with regret that we cannot share more of these beautiful products, quality dictates.

Barney Wilczak | Distiller & Owner | Capreolus Distillery