The English Whisky Co. | Norfolk

Established in 2006 by the Nelstrop family, The English Whisky Co. is housed in St. George's Distillery in the Breckland area of Norfolk and is credited as being England's first registered whisky distillery. The site is perfectly suited to whisky production, with the county of Norfolk being one of the world’s finest barley growing regions, coupled with the Breckland aquifer which can be found 50ft beneath the distillery providing a plentiful supply of crystal clear water.

With the sole ambition to produce the very finest single malt whisky, the Nelstrop's were fortunate to enlist the services of recently retired and former Laphroaig distiller, Iain Henderson, to help get them going. In December 2006 they made the first 29 barrels of English whisky and by August 2007 they had opened to the public with a visitor centre, fantastic whisky shop and tours.

Iain soon retired again, but before he did, he spent 16 weeks training David Fitt, a brewer from Greene King to take over. David has been the chief whisky maker since 2008 and as well as overseeing all the production, also ensures the maturation and bottling run smoothly.

Since the original distillations back in 2006, thousands of casks have been filled, many of which are still maturing nicely in the warehouses. The distillery creates both un-peated and peated whisky, as well as having a rolling program of cask trials. The cask trials have resulted in some wonderful whiskies as can be seen in the English Whisky Co. Small Batch releases. Ongoing maturation continues to result in new releases over the coming years. The distillery releases its drinks under two brands. ‘The English’ which is our range of single malt whiskies and ‘The Norfolk’ which consists of our grain whiskies and liqueurs.