Sylva Orchard: A celebration of fruit woods

Tree company Sylva unveils its latest limited release: Sylva Orchard.  The aged non-alcoholic spirit captures the vibrancy of British orchards and barley fields, balanced with a gentle smokiness embodying the essence of harvest season and rural life.

Made in Sylva’s pioneering distillery and maturation lab, nestled in the Colne Valley on the Suffolk border, Sylva Orchard offers a remarkable and complex flavour profile.  The seasonal release pays homage to Branson’s idyllic childhood memories of selling Victoria plums and Pippin apples from his family farm, and pairs it with his fond recollections of harvesting barley with his grandfather.

Ben Branson, Founder, Sylva, says: “The first time we experimented with plum and apple wood last year, the taste took me straight back to my childhood and we decided to make a release in celebration of British produce, orchards and harvest time.” 

“Sylva Orchard is fruit forward with gentle smoke evoking warm memories of slow days spent on the farm, and the golden period at the end of the summer when harvest is finished and the seasons change.”

Sylva Orchard is the third release from the innovative Sylva distillery and maturation lab, which started production in December 2024 to explore the untapped flavour of trees.  The distillery uses a pioneering production and sonic maturation process, invented by Branson, to make dark non-alcoholic spirits.  Just a few months after launching, Sylva can be found in Michelin starred restaurants, award-winning cocktail bars and luxury retailers like Selfridges; and was named the fourth most innovative distillery in the world by The Spirits Business.*

Sylva Orchard begins with distilling English regenerative pale malt barley from Suffolk-based Muntons, delivering rich raisin and biscuit notes. This base is matured with plum wood from a Welsh family orchard, Worcestershire apple wood, and cherry wood from wild trees on the Colne Valley distillery grounds gently smoked on cherry wood coals. The blend is finished with spring foraged cherry blossom distillate from the same cherry trees.

Sylva Orchard can be enjoyed neat over ice, long with soda and a slice of apple or in a Sylva Old Fashioned made with 50ml Sylva Orchard and three dashes of SEASN Dark cocktail bitters garnished with a cherry.

Sylva Orchard is priced at RRP £40 with the option to add a gift box.  It is available to buy in the UK from the Sylva website, and in the US from The Zero Proof from October.