Bury St Edmunds distillery, Alkemy, wins global award for its unique sugar beet spirit

A Bury St Edmunds distillery has been handed a global accolade for its unique spirit.

Alkemy Distillery was awarded a gold medal for its sugar beet spirit at the Rum and Cachaça Masters 2024, organised by The Global Spirit Masters.

The competition is renowned for its rigorous judging process, attracting nearly 300 entries from across the world.

It is the third industry accolade the distillery has been awarded. In 2023, its sugar beet spirit achieved an impressive score of 93/100 at the international wine and spirits competition, making it the highest-scoring rum in England.

The distillery also won ‘New Rum Distillery of the year’ at the Global Awards 2023/2024.

In addition, the business also won the Best New Start-up Award at the Bury Free Press West Suffolk Business Awards 2023.

Will and Rob Tapster founded Alkemy Distillery after several years distilling rum in Africa. Their first product was launched in November 2022.

Alkemy is the UK’s only aged sugar beet-based spirit.

Rob Tapster, said: “It’s a great position to be in, and for such a new and unique product to achieve this much so soon is a really positive sign.

“It’s also come at a good time as we are looking to expand into the national market and find the investment to support this, so everything is moving in the right direction.”

Alkemy is made in the same way as rum but uses sugar beet molasses instead of the traditional sugar cane.

It means that nothing is imported, making it a truly UK-made spirit.