Bordeaux Distilling Company - Distillery Spotlight
Published 7 Nov 2023
What do you know about the Bordeaux Distilling Company? Other than their intriguing malted Rye / Buckwheat & Barley mash bill (of their 200L Virgin French Oak cask listed on Still In Cask), I knew nothing about them. Which is a shame, because their story is a fascinating one.
Founded in 2018 by by Antoine Gravouil on the banks of the Garonne in the Bacalan district of Bordeaux, the distillery was inspired by the US bar scene’s re-acquaintance with Rye whiskey, especially in cocktails. With previous experience in the bar industry, the founders decided to become the first producers of French Rye Whisky to meet this growing demand and provide a home-grown Rye Whisky for French bars.
Truly a craft distillery, all of their products are made by hand on a hybrid 750L pot-column still to produce a range of spirits. Day-to-day operations are overseen by Arnaud Chevalier, who cut his teeth in London as a bar manager (Whistling Shop and Black Rock) and with the cutting-edge company Fluid Movement.
Their whisky starts life in the mash tun before fermenting in 2,500L tanks for 7 days to facilitate a greater depth of flavour compounds before distillation; monitoring and adjusting temperatures to reach the desired style wash. Using only the Pot still for their whisky in 750L batches, this ensures the flavour of the ingredients isn’t stripped out of the spirit and plays an important part in the profile of their eventual whiskies.
The casks are filled and left to mature in their on-site cellar, allowing for a temperature controlled maturation, again allowing the team total control over the whisky making process.
“The barrels each have their own little name, it helps to identify them! Up to 100 can be filled per year, the equivalent of 20,000 litres. We started distilling at the end of 2019, the first bottling will take place at the end of 2022”.
Arnaud Chevalier, Distiller, Bordeaux Distilling Company
BDC’s Still in Cask barrel will be one of their first to be bottled as a single cask whisky, as well as the first from our platform to reach maturation, so this is a unique opportunity to own a very special piece of French whisky history in the making. Only 250 bottles will emerge from this cask so grab your share(s) whilst you still can before it’s bottled and shipped this December.
A truly remarkable moment of shared whisky-making history for them, us and yourselves.
Salut!