Wensleydale Spirit Company: Flavoured vodka made in Yorkshire Dales changes t'Quila name after complaints from Mexico

Called t’Quila, it was the North Yorkshire distillery’s take on Tequila, the famous Mexican spirit and followed its creations of Wensleydale spiced rum and Tusky vodka.

And it was all going so well. Visitors at the Great Yorkshire Show loved it and sales were exceeding all expectations.

Then the company received a letter from the Mexican Tequila Association, via the British Embassy in Mexico, stating that all bottles should be removed from sale as it apparently breached the Mexican geographical indication “Tequila”.

Owner, Chris Taplin, said: “We were delighted with our new spirit and even suggested that t’Quila was best served with a Yorkshire accent. Instead of using agave, which all Mexican Tequilas do, this was a high-quality vodka, with added botanicals that we felt nodded towards the flavours of some famous Tequila brands.

"We were completely blind-sided by the demand from Mexico. We are a small distillery in the Yorkshire Dales, and we made it clear that while our t’Quila was a flavoured vodka we were not trying to pass it off as a real Tequila which has to be made within 60 miles of the town of Tequila in Mexico, not Leyburn in North Yorkshire. We argued our corner, but there was no compromise and we had to comply.”

Not to have their spirit dampened, so to speak, the Wensleydale Spirit Company is relaunching the tipple that has caused them so much trouble.

In time for the start of spring, the Wensleydale Spirit Company has re-launched the spirit, now branded as TQ Vodka. It is the same spirit that everyone loved, but without any mention of Mexico or Tequila.

The product is a premium spirit, double distilled in copper alembic stills, and is made by blending molasses, ginger, and lime with the finest and purest potato-based vodka.

It can be served neat, with mixers, or as the base for cocktails and the distillery says it has created a flavour sensation that “marries hints of melon, citrus, pepper, vanilla, and smoke.”

Mr Taplin added: “We are delighted to have TQ back on the shelves, and that we are now once again able to sell and promote our full range of spirits. This time last year we had no idea that we would be in a fight against Mexican officials which had the potential to seriously damage our distillery.

“At times it seemed absurd that from the middle of the Yorkshire Dales we had sufficiently ruffled the feathers of people on the other side of the world that they thought it worthwhile to confront us.

“Still, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and we are now confidently promoting TQ which I think it is fair to say has a back story like no other of our spirits.”

Mr Taplin owns the country-house hotel, The Stone House in Hawes, and is passionate about local produce especially as Wensleydale provides the backdrop for many renowned artisan brands.

While serving gin to his hotel guests who were visiting from around the country, he was struck by the fact that the there was no local Dales gin even though the area was rich in its surroundings of the ingredients needed to make a good drink.

Along with young distiller, Barry Mageean, Taplin & Mageean was founded back in 2018 and the rest of the drinks followed.

The row over tequila and t’Quila isn’t the first time the firm has turned a negative into a positive.

When they opened in 2018 the licence for their rural distillery, occupying a 200-year-old building at Leyburn Station on the heritage line through the Dales, didn’t come through in time for their launch party.

However, the law had a loophole that allowed alcohol to be sold on a moving train, even with no licence.

So, the launch event was held on a train running up and down the heritage line and the licence turned up a week later.

Now it continues to regularly hold gin train experiences on board the very same train running through Wensleydale and the Yorkshire Dales where guests can sample Taplin & Mageean gins whilst enjoying the view.