Forget coals to Newcastle, we sell bourbon to Americans
A London distillery is taking on the likes of Jack Daniel’s with its southern-style spirit
March 4, 2025
President Trump may be keen to levy tariffs on British products but that has not stopped one enterprising London distillery from going toe-to-toe with America’s biggest whiskey makers.
Doghouse Distillery in Battersea is launching Britain’s first “grain to bottle” bourbon in an effort to steal market share from the likes of Jack Daniel’s and Southern Comfort.
The new spirit is produced using authentic bourbon production methods, which require the drink to be made from at least 51 per cent corn and aged in virgin, charred American-oak casks for a sweeter taste.
By contrast, Scotch whisky is traditionally made of a single malt of 100 per cent barley and is aged in used barrels.
The other important difference between bourbon and Scotch is that bourbon must mature in the barrel at 62.5 per cent alcohol content, stronger than most Scotch, although both drinks are usually diluted to a strength of 40 per cent in the bottle.
Braden Saunders, Doghouse Distillery’s founder, has named his bourbon “Debt Collector” in homage to America’s prohibition era when bourbon came to the fore.
He says that he can get away with making a British bourbon because he is Australian.
He explained: “I have no whisky tradition, and that makes it a little bit easier. If I was Scottish and started making corn whisky in London, I’d probably be shot by my family.
“But there is no reason we cannot make it here. We can make any type of whisky, as long as we’ve got the know-how — it just takes time, trials, investment and understanding.”
Last year, the UK exported 132 million bottles of Scotch to America, making it the biggest export market by far.
Its popularity across the Atlantic means spirits are Britain’s fourth-largest export to the United States after cars, plane parts and medicine.
However, the value of British whisky exports to America fell last year and there is concern that the market will fall further if Trump decides to reintroduce the 25 per cent tariff he imposed in his first term. Whisky shipments dropped by 25 per cent before the levy was repealed under President Biden’s administration.
The threat of tariffs does not deter Saunders, who believes his bourbon will beat any of the big American players for taste.
“I’m not going to run around saying mine is the best bourbon in the world because it’s young [having been aged in the barrel for only three years]. But if you look at our bourbon versus the big-name bourbons that age on average five or six years, we are tastier. That’s because if you put a really good-quality spirit in a cask, it will taste better than low-quality spirit that is aged for longer.”
Saunders describes his bourbon as having a “clean and crisp cherry taste” that becomes “soft caramel with vanilla notes”.
He added: “At the back it kind of becomes spicy, woody and leathery, with a little bit of light smoke. That smoke comes from the charring of the barrel.” At 50 per cent alcohol content, Saunders’s bourbon is less diluted than the big US players, giving it “a bit of burn”.
He is confident that Debt Collector will sell well in the US. “Initially, I didn’t think there’d be a market there but I was over in America in September and everyone went, ‘Why wouldn’t we support an English bourbon? That sounds amazing.’ It’s a bit like the Aussies selling Scotch back to the UK. It works. Being English gives us a unique selling point.”
Only whiskies made in the US can be legally be sold there as bourbon, however, so Debt Collector will be marketed as “bourbon-like” or “American-style”.
Bourbon is thought to have originated in Bourbon County, Kentucky, in the late 18th century, when it was distilled by British and Irish farmers using corn. It was shipped down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and, by the mid-19th century, the name had become widely used to describe this type of spirit.
Saunders intends to produce about 20,000 bottles of Debt Collector from the first 50 barrels he has laid down but intends to increase that to 100,000 if all goes well.
