HERE BE DRAGONS

OUR ORIGINS

Ever wonder what might happen if you turned your garage into a distillery? Well, Slake is living that dream.

Our Grandad’s beloved wood-work hideaway became SlakeHQ, the ultimate modern day man cave. From these humble beginnings, a journey connecting communities, science and nature began.

Fighting every day to make the spirit world a little less boring, Slake brings you unique foraged flavours for the taste adventurers and spirit enthusiasts among us.

Our spirits are meticulously developed and produced by a doctor (no, not that type of doctor), this one’s big into chemistry and nature, ‘breaking good’ from his Granddad’s garage.

WHAT IS SLAKE?

Slake is an independent distillery on the South Coast of England, situated in Shoreham-by-Sea between the South Downs National Park, the River Adur and the Sea; a beautiful part of West Sussex, which has a historically deep connection with nature.

A short trip over the Downs brings us into the Weald, home to ancient Sussex woodland and unique natural heathland habitat. Inspired by the natural diversity of our locality and the fantastic ingredients we have around us we hand-craft quality spirits, distilled at the crossroads of science & nature.

WHAT’S WITH THE DRAGON?

His name is Slake and he’s an insatiable Knucker – an infamous water serpent, said to be found across Sussex, residing in Knuckerholes & devouring unsuspecting sheep and farmhands alike.

For us, dragons and mythological beasts represent the unknown, once marked on maps to warn wary travellers, they now hark back to times of adventure and discovery.

In an interconnected and global world you could be forgiven for thinking that the time of exploration has passed us by, but the natural world still has many mysteries to divulge if we’re willing to seek them out. Learning to live local and thrive with nature. This is our frontier.

 

OUR ETHOS

We work with nature to thoughtfully hand-craft quality spirits that best capture the taste of the seasons and a sense of time and place. A passionate reflection of where & how they are made.

 

THE LIVING COAST

Both people & place are so important to our process. Unearthing & celebrating the unique biocultural heritage of Sussex by the Sea & The Living Coast UNESCO biosphere region, where the distillery began, is what sets us apart and how we continue to create spirits of character. In freezing February 2021 we filmed this short movie about The Living Coast and what living & working in a UNESCO biosphere region means to us.

WHAT DRIVES US?

Everything takes place at SlakeHQ – from maceration to bottling, from development to distillation, batch by batch, we’re hands on, completing the process from start to finish under one roof.

Our nature led & exploratory approach certainly has its challenges, but we believe it is also the reason why our spirits are so unique. For us, it is not just the best way, but the only way.

The yardstick we measure our success against is our customer, nothing gives us greater pleasure than hearing your feedback. But don’t just take our word for it. Come & try something Slake for yourself! Search our events!

TIME TO SLAKE YOUR CURIOSITY?

STILL WANT TO GET TO KNOW US BETTER?

Hop over to the blog where you can read more about our journey as an independent artisan distillery, find out how and why our spirit’s are made the way they are, share our tasty experiments (the triumphant and otherwise), and our vision for an ethical local business that works with nature.

Any burning questions? Try our FAQs or drop us a line.