CLASSIC DISTILLING WITH A MODERN TOUCH
When good friends meet over a great bottle of whisky, the conversation flows. Sometimes it’s funny, sometimes it’s profound. Sometimes it evolves into something real. Ours grew into Nine Rivers Distillery.
InvestorsABOUT NINE RIVERS
Nine Rivers is a multi-category distillery located in the mountains of Longyan, an area of outstanding natural beauty and just 90 minutes north of Xiamen.
Our site is surrounded by ancient woodlands, a paradise for nature lovers and hikers as well as natural mountain springs that filter water over millennia through the natural igneous and sedimental rock formations. This highly fertile land with pristine water has supported human settlements and agriculture for thousands of years.
We build onto this legacy of purity and combine some modern touches to bring distilling into the 21st century. Crafting vodka, gin, rhum and whiskies to quality standards above and beyond those defined by industry leaders.
OUR PEOPLE
We are a close-knit team that’s obsessed with our craft. Each of us brings a unique strength to the distillery.
We combine age-old western traditions with modern advances in technology to minimise energy usage and reduce our carbon footprint.
We harvest energy from the environment using air-source heat pumps. We recycle the heat that we generate using highly optimised heat exchangers. We create cooling from natural airflow and smart architecture. Our waste is recycled as animal feed and fertiliser for farming. We use recycled glass and renewable source for all of our packaging.
We see all of these things as common sense and responsible business
Facts and Figures
PRISTINE WATER
Our water has been trapped beneath 300 meters of volcanic granite for thousands of years. Free from salts and other minerals that impair flavor, our water is pure, crisp, and it brings out the best in our grains.
NATURAL ENVIRONMENT
Nine Rivers is located 800 meters above sea level in a remote mountain village. This area has a unique microclimate similar to the Lowlands of Scotland, which creates better harmony between alcohol and cask.
RECYCLED GRAINS
We recycle all spent grains into animal feed. While free of some starches, these grains are rich in protein and nutrients that would otherwise go to waste.
TRACEABILITY
Quality of ingredients makes or breaks the quality of what you’re drinking. Using proprietary NFC chips, we track everything that goes into each individual bottle – right down to the grain.
WASTE MANAGEMENT
In addition to recycling our used grains for animal feed, we repurpose our pot ale and spent lees to create biogas for the local community.
COMPLETE PORTFOLIO
We produce a complete portfolio of premium spirits, including vodka, gin, rhum, liqueurs – and, of course, whisky. At full capacity we will produce 7.5 million LPA.
TECHNOLOGY-DRIVEN
We believe in the power of technology to enhance traditional craftsmanship. Building on classic copper still design, we use a proprietary system of agitation and collective heat exchange that greatly reduces energy consumption and extends the life of our stills.
ENERGY CONSUMPTION
Old distillation technology uses far too much energy, which threatens the natural resources that make our products great. We have minimized our environmental impact by reducing energy consumption to mere fractions of the energy-per-bottle consumed at traditional distilleries.
How do we make whisky?
PURE, NATURAL INGREDIENTS
Only three things can be used to make whisky. Grains, water and yeast. But with only three ingredients to craft and shape new make whisky spirit with, the quality of these three things is of absolute importance.
MILLING AND MASHING
We mill our own grains on-site and to different consistencies of grist depending on which style of whisky we will be crafting. The objective is to crack open the grains, separate the husks and create some flour.
FERMENTATION
Fermentation is the magic that happens in the washbacks to convert the sugars from the wort into the first stage of alcohol, which we call wash. The speed of the fermentation influences the flavour of the wash
Der Erste Brennvorgang OR die erste Destillation
Während unserer ersten Destillation geben wir die Wash in eine Still und erwärmen sie allmählich, damit die Alkohole und andere Elemente verdunsten können. Wir kondensieren diese zurück zu einer Flüssigkeit zwischen 22% und 24% ABV.
THE SECOND DISTILLATION
During our second distillation, which normally takes about 8 hours, we refine the alcohol to something more palatable by cutting out the finest heart of the distillate – about 14% of the total volume.
OAK BARRELLED MATURATION
We’ve taken our learnings from the very best of whisky producers across the world and we recognize that the quality of the casks used to mature our spirit can make or break a whisky.
CASK FINISHES
After our mandatory 3 years in an oak cask, some of our whiskies go on for a further cask finish to add depth and breadth to the final product. Some of the cask finishes that we use include
PRODUCTION CAPACITY
Most distilleries measure their capacity in LPA (litres of pure alcohol production per year) with most legacy distilleries measuring in the millions. While many of the recent startups over the last decade are considerably smaller in capacity, we are working on a balance between scale (to keep costs lower) and small batch sizes (to create interesting variances).