Williams Chase

£29.90

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The story of Williams Chase Gin begins with vodka. Well, potatoes actually, then an award winning crisp company, then potato based vodka – then apple vodka, then gin but who's counting?

By the early 2000’s the Chase family had built themselves a reputation of quality farmers by selling produce from their Herefordshire farms. However, with no real relationship with the end consumer and having farmed potatoes for 20 years (mainly supplying supermarkets as a commodity), William Chase started to feel detached. In 2002 he decided to travel around the world to source equipment and recipes to make potato chips and by the summer, “Tyrrell’s Crisps” was born.

With this in mind, the team at Chase began the process all over again! This time, they turned their attention to their own apple orchard to create a new base spirit (the result actually ended in the production of a spirit that was good enough to bottle without further infusions and now sold as Naked Chase Vodka). What is the difference between the two bases? The apple base has a crisp, citric note, whereas the potato base has a full mouth feel and is somewhat creamy.

Now getting to gin! To convert this apple based spirit into William’s Gin, they add the 96% ABV base spirit to the same amount of water from the farm along with juniper, coriander, angelica, liquorice, orris, orange and lemon peel, hops, elderflower and fresh Bramley apples packed all into in a small Carter-Head style still (affectionately named “Ginny”). The vapour infusion accentuates more floral notes as well as lighter flavours and the result is typical of a gin that uses this process.

Williams Chase Elegant Crisp Gin -

William’s Gin has a strong juniper presence on the nose that is complemented by crisp citrus. On the palate juniper is present again, before a citrus flavour takes over with the coriander, angelica and liquorice all also contributing to create a long finish. The apple base can be brought out further by serving a slice of apple as a garnish in a G&T, but is also discernible when tasted neat if you focus in a little. Getting all the individual flavours out in a gin can be hard work when they are quite subtle, but William’s Gin is both quaffable and makes for an exceptional Martini. The apple base can be tasted on a wider level which speaks to how crisp the overall gin is.

William Chase Great British Extra Dry Gin -

Designed especially for the Spanish market originally, this gin proved so popular it has since been released in the UK. At a lower ABV the gin has less pronounced alcohol on the nose, yet manages to keep a similar level of botanical intensity. It's got more juniper upfront and works (in our opinion) better in a G&T than it's taller sister. Worth trying both if you get the chance!

Read Gin Foundry's full review here: Williams Chase Gins