Who We Are

Our story

The Surrey Copper Distillery is based in the heart of the beautiful county of Surrey. We make a distinctive library of spirits inspired by a rich heritage and reflecting the very essence of England. The distillery was founded in 2017 by Dr Chris Smart and his wife Professor Katherine Smart. Both are widely experienced and acknowledged as experts in the brewing and distilling industries. The Surrey Copper Distillery relaunched in early 2024 with new team members to drive the business forward and bring our Copperfield London Dry Gins and other drinks to a wider audience.

Our inspiration

Our Copperfield London Dry Gins are inspired by the earliest documented recipe from The Complete Distiller by Ambrose Cooper and which was first published in 1757. While browsing in a book shop opposite the British Museum, Katherine Smart stumbled across a copy of the 1800 edition of The Complete Distiller nestled amongst some beautifully bound copies of Charles Dickens’ Collected Works. Recreating those original recipes in small pot stills inspired the recipe which is now used for our Copperfield London Dry Gin.

What’s in a name

We named our gin Copperfield in tribute to the fortuitous find amongst Charles Dickens Collected Works.

The Dickensian links don’t stop there. We have made the beautiful Surrey countryside our home and we are a stone’s throw from The White Horse in Dorking where Charles Dickens penned the Pickwick Papers. Often referencing gin in his books, Dickens enjoyed spirits and perhaps gin most of all. In Pickwick Papers he coined the name Whistling Shop for a place where spirits and particularly gin were sold. In David Copperfield, Mr Macawber orders a gin punch and quickly forgets his troubles! Dickens himself reputedly collected gins in his cellar and one of his favourite drinks was a Mint Julip which was a wonderfully refreshing combination of gin, lemon juice and mint, regularly served at his Doughty Street soirées.

Our gin is made with botanicals from the field and in a copper pot still. The Copperfield name beautifully combines the two.

Our Still

The gin still is called Clara and is very special. She is a 300 litre Mini Carterhead designed specifically for us by one of the world’s leading craft distillery manufacturers, Green Engineering of Italy. Green Engineering not only bring a tremendous amount of technical expertise to still design but as craftsmen with typical Italian flair also produce beautiful stills. And we really wanted her to be beautiful.

Our distillation process is different in that we use an infuser rather than steep our botanicals in the actual still. This spirit vapour infusion yields fragrant flavours and aromas to create an inimitable and elegant gin.

Solar Power

The distillation process needs a lot of energy. Here at The Surrey Copper Distillery, we are very fortunate to have a solar power plant on site. This means that we are able to distil in a cost effective and environmentally sustainable way.