I’ve always thought Norfolk to be a beautiful part of the world; an idyllic coastal escape, oozing quintessential English charm along every country lane.
But while there I never really expected it to be a burgeoning region for whisky—until now that is. My recent visit to the English Distillery may well have changed my view of Norfolk forever.
What I found really interesting was just how different it felt from being in a Scottish distillery; where the Scots give great weight to tradition, there is a certain pragmatism to the English Distillery approach, respectful to the craft of whisking making while maintaining a close eye on that ever-important bottom line. This is in a large part due to the relative age of both industries; while Scottish whisky has been regulated for just over 200 years, the English regulation, spearheaded by the English Whisky Guild, is yet to be legally ratified.
This visit was to mark a special occasion, the release of a very special whisky — Cask 001. Distilled in 2006 and matured for 18 years, the liquid was rested in an American Standard Barrel, before briefly being re-racked into a single sherry cask, and then returned to its original home in Bond 1. With only sixty bottles available, The English Distillery partnered with master glassblowers Langham Glass of Norfolk to create, weighty, sculptural hand-blown Glass decanters. Steeped in history, this release is significant, not just for The English Distillery themselves, but for the entire category of English Whisky.
Aged for 18 years, Cask 001 is the oldest single malt English whisky ever to be released for sale
While the release of Cask 001 was undoubtedly the showpiece, when I heard current The English Distillery CEO Andrew Nelstrop speak of their journey as a distillery, part of me feels that their accompanying release — Founders’ Private Cellar 18 Year Old — is perhaps even more meaningful to Andrew himself, as it celebrates the life and contribution of the Founder, his father James Nelstrop:
“Founders’ Private Cellar 18 Year Old is composed of the oldest and most characterful casks in our collection, and offers a full-bodied, contemplative single malt that is perfect for sharing, remembering, and raising a glass to my father, the man who made it all possible.”
The younger son of a Lincolnshire farmer, James Nelstrop began his farming journey in Lincolnshire, emigrating to Australia, before returning to England in 1976 and proceeding to work the land in Suffolk, Lincolnshire, and most significantly— Norfolk.
It was then that James quipped that it was a “shame all this barley has to go to Scotland to be turned into whisky.”, a quip that lit the fuse on the family’s whisky journey. Soon came the decision to build the distillery in Norfolk, but with the strict condition that the distillery would only produce the very finest single malt whiskies, regardless of the challenges that lay ahead.
A brave but also pertinent move, especially given that the last recorded whisky distillery in England swapped from whisky to gin production before being destroyed by fire in 1901.
Architects drew up plans in October 2005 and by January 2006 they had secured planning permission. In Autumn 2006 The English Distillery started distilling to become the first operational whisky distillery in England for over 100 years, casking followed not long after.
“My mother decided that we should have it opened by someone more important than me, and so she said, “I’m going to get Prince Charles”.
So she wrote him and got a very nice letter back saying “That would be a lovely idea, maybe in two or three years’ time” That’s not something you write to my mother! So she wrote again, this time with Iain Henderson, who had been at Laphroaig, who had met him, and mentioned that he could call in on the way to Sandringham. His response was “Great, I’ll be there in about three and a half weeks.”
As it happened the distillery was nowhere near ready to be receiving public facing guests, so what proceeded was a mad scramble to get everything ready in time, to the extent that they were literally tarmacking the roads on the morning of the then Prince Charles’ arrival. That was in July 2007 after which the distillery opened to the public, and their journey commenced in earnest.
He jests, “The one thing we never imagined, is that we don’t actually have a whisky business, we have a tourist business with whisky on the side.”
A testament to the pragmatism I spoke of earlier, Andrew readily accepts that The English Distillery must be more than its namesake—for now—to survive. Currently, the business is divided into four parts: the whisky distillery, the tourism side, the storage side, and, to a lesser extent, contract distilling.
Unencumbered by traditions of yesteryear, The English Distillery is not afraid to nurture and grow these other sides of the business; since opening their restaurants have grown in capacity and conference suites have been created. As I’m shown around the perfectly manicured grounds of the English Distillery, Andrew outlines plans to further expand their storage side of the business, making use of their available farmland and regional expertise to further boost their bottom line.
When asked why the decision to focus on eighteen as a pivotal milestone for the distillery, Andrew simply replied, “It’s just an English thing isn’t it? You have 18th birthdays, it’s when you come of age.” It most certainly is, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Bottled at 54.2% ABV, Cask 001 is limited to 60 bottles worldwide, released 25th September 2025 at £3,000, available exclusively through select partners and the distillery’s official website.
