Why the Isle of Man is the new hotness for small-batch spirits
In an old milking shed at Ballakelly Farm in Andreas on the Isle of Man, a new F&B scene is being created. The Manx Outlier movement even has its own manifesto, written by two gentlemen from Surrey.
“We are based at an outlying point of the Isle of Man, which is itself an outlier of the British Isles,” says Outlier Distilling Company co-founder Ian Warborn-Jones. “We’re focused on doing things away from the mainstream, a little differently from the mass-market by producing a range of outstanding locally sourced spirits and helping to create meaningful moments through our events and drinks.”
Warborn-Jones is a winemaker-turned-spirits-producer, having previously worked in Portugal’s Valle Pradinhos vineyards. As head distiller of The Isle of Man’s Seven Kingdom Distillery, he joined forces with Epsom-born former journalist Rick Dacey, acquiring a 180-litre, wood fired still fuelled by off-cuts from a local sawmill.
Between them, they built their “Hedge Fund” from locally foraged blackberries and elderberries. Their pioneering Manx German-style schnapps was the first drink to be awarded the “Product of Man” provenance.
“The farm and lanes around Andreas are covered in blackberries and with Ian’s background we thought we could make a blackberry and elderberry wine and then distill it,” says Dacey, who previously worked for the online gaming company PokerStars. “It was initially a proof of concept for us to test out the still, but it came out so good that we thought we’d launch it as a small batch. It sold out in a few days.”
At the end of last year, they also released “Pudtroleum”, a 50ml bottle of high proof rum bottled specifically to flambe Christmas puddings. They are about to release “Honey Bun”, a 31.5% ABV honey liqueur, which you will be able to buy from their website.
Another Manx outlier is American Berle “Rusty” Figgins Jnr, who is ready to make his next batch of Fynoderee seasonal gins, named after a leafy half-man, half goat pagan spirit of vegetation.
Recent “come-over” “Rusty is Fynoderee’s master distiller and distillery manager, tasked with continuing the tradition of premium gin production and taking forward an aged spirits programme including the distillery’s expansion into Manx single-malt whisky.
“Rusty” previously worked for XO Alambic, a multi award-winning producer of whisky and brandy in Walla Walla, Washington. Hailing from the prominent Washington wine-producing family behind Leonetti, Figgins and Toil Oregon wine estates, Rusty’s career in viticulture and oenology led him to make wine in France (Château Palmer), Australia and across Washington State. In 2008, he became a founding signatory of the American Single Malt Whisky Commission, winning plaudits for his own Scythe & Sheaf single malt whisky.
In 2008, he co-founded The Ellensburg Distillery, the first in Washington to craft rye and malt whiskies, fine brandy and gin. There, he invented the Figgins distillation system, a pot-and-column hybrid still. Ten of these stills are now in use at commercial distilleries across the US and the eleventh has just arrived in the Isle of Man. His Manx portfolio also comprises Kerala Chai Gin and Bumbee small batch vodka.