Meet the first-time farmer who has given up a career in the pub trade to set up a vodka distillery in North Yorkshire

Andy Braithwaite calls himself a trainee Yorkshireman having lived in South Yorkshire for a mere 20-plus years and said he is enjoying the challenge of setting up a new distillery on the tenanted Ellers Farm at Buttercrambe, part of the Buttercrambe Estate.

“It’s exhilarating and petrifying in equal measure. I’ve never done anything like this before, which is why I have brought in those who I now have around me. Putting in our own borehole was one of the most nervewracking experiences of my life.

“We’d had a hydro geological survey as we had wanted our own ready supply of water and the report had come back saying we would hit water at between 120-150 metres.

“I was really tense when the company we used didn’t reach water at that depth or even a few more metres, but we had a great Irishman who was the site foreman for the job who told me not to worry, that the water was down there somewhere and they would find it. They ended up going down 260 metres. It made me a little greyer.”

Andy’s career has been wholly in the hospitality trade having worked for the Yates’s Wine Lodge chain and Scottish & Newcastle Breweries that became Heineken.

He’s never been responsible for a farm previously but said he is excited about the planting of orchards for the vital ingredient to the Ellers Farm Distillery’s first vodka brand, Dutch Barn, so named after the renovated buildings that form the new on-farm business.

“We currently have 20 acres and while at first we will be purchasing apples from farmers and growers in Herefordshire, later this year we will also be planting our own orchards here at Ellers to provide us with our own native British apple varieties.

“We want to make the best vodka in the world and create a viable business.

“We have brought in a master distiller who has won masses of awards and has worked with big names, but we also want everything here on the farm to be undertaken in the most sustainable and ethical way possible.

“That’s why we have appointed a head of sustainability who is also effectively our farm manager, Tabatha.”

Andy said the making of vodka from apples is not new, but it is very different and quite difficult compared to other methods, but also has its environmental advantages.

“The trees will sequester carbon as well as providing our raw material. Vodka can be made from a variety of raw materials, with most made from grain but in more recent times potatoes and fruit.

“I am new to the farming world, but my understanding is that more farmers are moving towards not tilling the soil because of the damage it does, so our growing of apple trees will hopefully be seen as something that is good and helpful to the planet.

“Over time we would like to grow our orchards in tandem with the growth in sales, but we still don’t want huge commercial-style orchards.

“We are looking into community orchards where the local communities of Buttercrambe, Stamford Bridge and surrounding villages might like to be a part of what we are doing.

“It’s all a balancing act to make a profitable business yet ethical and sustainable at the same time.

“We want to make sure that we are doing the right things on the land and we are constantly learning.

“I enjoy taking time out from the setting up of the business just to walk around the land we now tenant and I see a time, when we open the distillery visitor centre when our visitors will be able to wander around the farm taking in the beauty of the land and can look to see what we are trying to achieve.

“It’s not all about apples at Ellers either. We have local farmers grazing their sheep here and fields of winter wheat.

“Tabatha is working on how we can find the right mix for our farm in terms of the environment, crops and biodiversity.

“We are also looking to increase our environmental and wildlife side of the farm and have a pair of breeding barn owls.

“We have recently put up bat boxes and swift boxes to help with the wildlife on the farm. It’s going to be a great place to come to.”

Andy said he has targeted that the first produce available from Ellers Farm, Dutch Barn Vodka, will be launched at the end of February, just a month from now.

“It’s frenetic. We have turned around what was a dilapidated, redundant farm that was in a sorry state to something that now looks the part.

“All of the equipment we need is in place and we are at what is the plumbing, wiring and commissioning phase. Our filtration system is in this week and we should start making our vodka very soon.

“I started on this project in 2020 and at the time I felt very fortunate to have been sat outside the hospitality trade as the industry shut down through Covid restrictions but it swiftly became apparent that starting a business during lockdown was going to be tricky.

“But it has been an amazing journey so far and we are now so close to producing the first spirits of what we hope will become a range that will see vodka as our main spirit but with several other small batch spirits including gin and whisky.”

Andy said the additional work being undertaken by Tabatha, including the future reinstatement of hedgerows would assist further in providing other raw materials in terms of fruit.

“The berries produced from hedgerows will be another unique part of what we produce, offering us once again another highly sustainable resource from the farm.”