Making a Botanical Spirit at Shed One Distillery

Written by: Rob

Location: Ulverston
Venue: Shed One Distillery
Duration: 1/2 day

As part of Cumbria Tourism’s 50th anniversary, the team are trying out 50 different tourism experiences throughout the year – to help inspire your own days out across the Lake District, Cumbria. On this experience day, Bea Hooson, Dan Stearne and Rob Cowley visited Shed One Distillery in Ulverston to make a unique special edition 50th anniversary of Cumbria Tourism botanical spirit...

Calling all spirit lovers! Who fancies a masterclass in making your very own, unique Botanical Spirit? Yes please!

Arriving at Shed One in Ulverston we were greeted by Zoe and Andrew, who are the people behind Shed One.

Set in the unconventional location of a former cowshed on the edge of Ulverston’s Auction Mart, with a stunning view of Ulverston’s iconic Pepperpot (the Sir John Barrow Memorial) atop Hoad, this really set the scene for a unique experience day.

Creativity shines through from the moment you walk into the ‘shed’ and see the amazing lighting rig made from copper piping which nods to the type used in the copper stills which enable the distilling process.

During our visit we are going to get insight into the foraging process for fresh botanicals, choose our selection of botanicals to use and then go on to produce our very own unique botanical spirit. Gin? No, in this case it’s not a gin (which relies on juniper as the main botanical), but the process is very similar. On we go to forage…

Armed with a wicker basket, Zoe takes us to a couple of nearby locations that provide a treasure trove of local plants, flowers and herbs. Zoe’s knowledge of botanicals is second to none and she explains the different plant properties, seasonal variations and local specialities that go into making the premium small-batch products that Shed One produces. Next, we head back to the Shed to get botanical-busy!

Before we start to select our botanical mix, Zoe and Andrew make some coffee and we all sit down to have a chat about the origin of Shed One. Started in 2016 from a 7ft x 7ft shed in their back garden, they produced their first gin, which turned out to be very popular indeed. So much so that they went on to win an array of awards and needed larger premises. In 2019 they moved to their current location, which used to be a cow shed, so the name which had its origin in their own garden continued to work perfectly!

Now onto the serious business of choosing our blend of botanicals. We started with jars of dry botanicals, sniffing each one and saying whether we liked the smell or not. We then moved on to the fresh botanicals that had been picked that morning and followed the same process. After much sniffing and deliberation, we had our unique mix of dried and freshly picked botanicals, with tiny quantities of each making our perfect 50th anniversary potion.

Next, Andrew took us on a tour of the current distilling facilities and talked us through the process of making the perfect premium spirit, before we moved on to a small still to make our prototype spirit. The still we used is also used to try out new recipes and ideas, so was perfect for us.

Whilst we were waiting for the magic to happen, Zoe brought us a selection of homemade treats including scones and cakes, also containing some beautiful botanical flavours. Her talents for flavour run through all she does and the refreshments were delightful. On a side note – Shed One also offers an Afternoon G&Tea experience - another one for the list to try!

Around 45 minutes later our spirit was distilled. Now at 80% abv, we had to blend the alcohol with 6 x filtered Cumbrian water to find the perfect abv where all the botanicals come together. We settled on 40.5% abv for the perfect taste.

Our new 50th anniversary Botanical Spirit (no, it’s not a gin 😊) is available to buy for a limited time from the beginning of June and every purchase will make a donation to the Cumbria Tourism 50th anniversary charitable fund.

Our thanks go to Zoe and Andrew for a unique and highly enjoyable experience day.

Shed One Distillery is officially open to the public Wednesday – Saturday. However, if you see the shutters up, just knock. This place is really worth a visit!

For more information visit:

Shed One Distillery website

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