The English Whisky Company Virgin Oak 70cl 46% ABV
Original price was: £52.95.£45.00Current price is: £45.00.
Description
The English Whisky Company Virgin Oak
What originally started as an experiment for the English Whisky Co. has resulted in another addition to The English range – The English Whisky Company Virgin Oak Cask expression! Whiskies matured in brand new oak can sometimes be particularly… Loud, some might say. This one, however, manages to show off all the creamy, nutty, chocolatey notes from the cask without loads of overpowering oak elements getting everywhere. There’s still a hint of powerful oak, but it’s restrained and works well with the heavy vanilla and nutty barley.
In 1335 William Nelstroppe was recorded as farming in Yorkshire; in 1772 Joseph started a mill in Ackworth which the family moved to at Stockport in 1820 where it is still run by the Nelstrop family.
A branch of the family moved to Lincolnshire to farm in 1881 and is still at the same farm.
James Nelstrop was born in Lincolnshire into a farming family. James quickly moved away to start what would become an exciting and innovative life in farming and business. These travels took him to Australia where he introduced direct drilling, Russia where he carried out rural reconstruction work as CEO of the Nuffield Russia Trust, to Norfolk where he introduced the 1st centre pivot in England and then to Lakenheath, turning a worn out vegetable farm on the fens into the first whole Countryside Stewardships Scheme Farm for organic sheep and cattle and to encourage the wild bird population!
It was inevitable that, on turning 60, he did not wish to retire but to do something different, tied to farming. With his son Andrew they decided to investigate a subject close to Jame’s heart – whisky production which had stopped in England over 100 years ago. The best barley is grown in Norfolk and the Breckland water is superb. Several concepts were considered, a great deal of research was done in Scotland, Ireland and Wales and in October 2005 a planning application was submitted with approval granted on 10th January 2006.
Although the initial idea was for a micro distillery ( there are several micro breweries in the area), customs and excise wouldn’t consider anything smaller than 1800 ltr stills (larger than some in Scotland!). So, in a field they owned down by the River Thet, the footings were dug and the building work began with Andrew at the helm as main contractor.
“My father James Nelstrop’s sole ambition was to produce the very finest single malt whisky. This is still the only goal of The English Whisky Co”
They were fortunate that Iain Henderson a distiller of some note from Laphroaig, although ready to retire, was talked into coming along to help get them going. In December 2006 they were able to make the first 29 barrels of English whisky and by August 2007 they 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 their 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 their warehouses. The distillery creates both unpeated 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 with their Small Batch releases. Ongoing maturation will continue to result in new releases over the coming years.
9 in stock
Compare