The Vanilla That Took Its Time

Vanilla is an ingredient that takes its time.

Each vanilla orchid flower blooms for just one day. If it isn't pollinated during that short window, it'll never produce a vanilla pod. Even then, the pods take months to mature before they're ready.

Around six months ago, we decided to start a vanilla project of our own. A row of amber glass bottles found a home on a shelf in the distillery. Once a week, they'd come down for a gentle shake before heading straight back to their spot.

While they quietly got on with things, life at the distillery carried on around them. The seasons changed on the Yorkshire coast, the tides rolled in and out, and our new distillery beneath Whitby Abbey slowly started to take shape, changing a little more each week.

This month, those bottles were finally ready, and we've started using our own vanilla extract. If you've ever noticed those soft vanilla notes in our Rum, Wild Old Tom, or our Bramble & Bay editions, you’ll now be tasting a little piece of that six month project.

It’s a small detail, but one we’re proud of. It's simply another way of doing a little more ourselves. We love getting to know our ingredients, trying new ideas, and making more in house whenever we can.

That's always been part of Whitby Distillery.  We’re naturally curious, we care about what goes into every bottle, and we enjoy the process just as much as the end result.

Who knows where that curiosity will take us next. Maybe one day we'll even have a go at growing our own vanilla orchids. It certainly wouldn't be a quick project... but then again, vanilla has never been in much of a hurry!

For now though, we're just happy that after six months on a shelf, those little amber bottles have finally found their place.