List of whisky distilleries in England

There are 55 English whisky distilleries registered as of 24 April 2024, 45 of these are active distilleries, 24 of these distilleries are members of the English Whisky Guild (EWG).

St George’s Distillery, Bimber, the Cotswolds Distillery and the Lakes Distillery are the largest whisky distillers in England by production.

Active independent distilleries by region
There are currently 33 active English distilleries across England.

Circumstance Distillery
Circumstance Distillery was founded by Liam Hirt in 2108. Based in the Whitehall district of Bristol, it is the sister distillery of Psychopomp Microdistillery. Circumstance Distillery prides itself on its 'Flavour first' approach, meaning every decision is made with flavour the only consideration. As a result of this approach they do not make a single malt whisky but use a variety of grains to produce single grain whiskies. They also use brewing yeasts instead of the traditional distilling yeasts and leave their fermentations running for 14 days. They released their first whisky in September 2022 which sold out in 9 minutes.

Dartmoor Whisky Distillery
Situated in Bovey Tracey, Simon Crow placed a 1200-litre ex-cognac still in the Old Town House to start the Dartmoor Whisky Distillery in 2017.

Guided by head distiller Frank McHardy, long time whisky industry veteran, the first whisky was casked on 3 February 2017. Three and half years later the first single malt whisky was released.

Durham Distillery
Durham Distillery was founded in 2014 as a gin distillery in Langley Park, County Durham and moved in 2020 to the Prince Bishops Shopping Centre in Durham, England.

They started the distillery with a 400-litre Hoga pot still, Lily, to produce gin, vodka and liqueur. With the investment of the Finance Durham Fund the distillery was planning to move to the city centre in 2018, what they were able to do in 2020. The production is the responsibility of the master distiller Jessica Tomlinson, a graduate from Heriot-Watt University who is involved from the start. Owing to the delayed move, no whisky was distilled before November 2019.

Hicks & Healey
In 2003 two of Cornwall's drinks producers, St Austell Brewery and Healey's Cyder Farm, announced that they had begun to produce the first whisky in England for almost a century.

In September 2011 the partnership released a 7-year old single malt and opted to use the spelling "whiskey". Whisky commentator and author of The Whisky Bible, Jim Murray, described the whisky as "among the best debut bottlings of the last decade".

Isle of Wight Distillery
The Isle of Wight Distillery is known for their gin and vodka brand Mermaid, but also started distilling whisky in December 2015. The founders Xavier Baker and Conrad Gauntlett started the distilling at Conrad's Rosemary Vineyard in 2014. Four years later, they moved to the Pondwell's pub The Wishing Well.

The stills have capacities of 100 and 300 litres. In spring 2019 they planned to install a custom designed 1,000 litre still. Big Bertha was operating in May 2020.

The first whisky was released in December 2018. For this single malt, the wort was brewed in Ryde at the Goddards Brewery where Xavier is managing director.

Princetown Distillery
The company Princetown Distilleries filed their plans to build a whisky distillery in December 2016.

Located at an elevation of 1,400 ft, in Princetown, Dartmoor National Park it will outrank Dalwhinnie in that category. The design is by Gareth Roberts working for Organic Architects who previously was involved in the realisation of Ardnamurchan distillery, Dartmoor Distillery, Lindores Abbey Distillery, and Nc’nean distillery. Building started in August 2018.

Lakesland Distillery
An unfruitful initiative of Harold Currie co-founder of Arran Distillery and his son Andrew Currie. Harold's other son, Paul Currie, would found The Lakes Distillery.

Andrew published his plans in 2004 for a distillery in the old Bobbin Mill in Staveley. In 2006 work on the distillery was progressing, aiming for a Christmas opening. However, in 2007 the project was abandoned.

Active distilleries in the EWG in alphabetical order
There are currently 24 distilleries that are members of the English Whisky Guild

Bimber Distillery
The Park Royal, London based Bimber Distillery was founded in 2016.

The alembic stills are Doris, a 1000-litre wash and Astraeus a spirit still of 600 litres made by Hoga. On 26 May 2016 the first cask was filled and three years later The First was available September 2019.

In 2017 a vodka was released followed by a rum the following year; gin is also part of the product line.

The sales director announced in June 2019 that they are looking for a new location to expand their production and increase the number of visitors.

Cooper King Distillery
Cooper King Distillery is an independent English distillery based in Sutton on the Forest, which was founded after the owners spent time living in Tasmania and became inspired by the Australian whisky industry.

Established in 2016 by founders Christopher Jaume and Abbie Neilson, the distillery started producing gin in early 2018 and casked their first single malt spirit in August 2019. They named the distillery after co-founder Chris Jaume's great-great-grandfather, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Cooper King, who traced the family's history back to Yorkshire in 1030 AD.

(Adnams) Copper House Distillery
The Copper House Distillery was built by the Southwold based brewer Adnams in 2010. Their first whisky was released in 2013. They also distill gin, vodka, bierbrand and brandy.

Copper Rivet Distillery
The Copper Rivet Distillery, based in a Grade II listed building in Chatham, Kent, was founded by Bob Russell and his sons Matthew and Stephen, in August 2016.

The distillery has three stills; Sandy (pot), Joyce (column), and Janet (gin). Janet was designed by head distiller Abhi Banik and was granted a patent in 2019. For the production of Single Malt Whisky Sandy is used; it can load 2000 litres of wash. Joyce is for the Vela Vodka and the base alcohol of Dockyard Gin. Janet adds the flavours to the gin through maceration and vapour distillation.

The first whisky release, branded Malthouse, was launched in November 2020.

The Cotswolds Distillery
The Cotswolds Distillery was established in 2014, and was the first full-scale distillery to be located in the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). Situated in a 5 acre site in Stourton in Warwickshire, its focus is distilling single malt whisky.

On July 27, 2023, The Cotswolds distillery was named the best distillery in the U.K and Ireland

East London Liquor Company
East London Liquor Company is based in a building that was once a glue factory in Bow Wharf, East London. The company was founded by former actor Alex Wolpert in 2014. Head distiller Tom Hills makes single malt, rye, wheat whisky, gin, and wheat vodka with two 450–650 litres Holstein stills,

The London Rye (42% rye, 58% barley) was first released in December 2018. In 2019 a single malt was released, followed in 2020 by the London Wheat (35% unmalted wheat, 30% heirloom malted barley, 30% malted wheat, 5% corn).

In May 2018, £1.5 million was raised to enlarge the whisky production.

Henstone Distillery
Alison and Shane Parr, owners of the Stone House Brewery in Morda, Shropshire, started the Henstone distillery together with Alexandra and Chris Toller in 2017 with the aid of the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development The equipment of the brewery supplies the Wash for the 1000 litre Kothe still Hilda, with which they make a whisky, brandy, gin & vodka.

Their first whisky was released on 23 January 2021.

The Lakes Distillery
The distillery is repurposing an old Victorian farmstead on the shore of Bassenthwaite Lake in the Lake District National Park. It was founded by Paul Currie, ex-Arran Distillery, Alan Rutherford, Nigel Mills, and master distiller Chris Anderson. The Heriot-Watt graduate Dhavall Gandhi was appointed master blender in 2016, his previous position was at The Macallan.

The distillery opened on 15 December 2014, a few days after they put the 5,500 litre McMillan stills into production. On 22 July 2015, Princess Anne formally opened the distillery. In 2019 the distillery announced an expansion plan that would nearly double their production capacity.

Initially the company released a blended whisky The One before they released their first self-produced The Lakes Genesis on 29 June 2018. In May 2018 an annual release, Quatrefoil, was introduced (Faith, Hope, Luck, Love). A brand was restyled in September 2019 with the release of The Whiskymaker's Reserve No.1.

Besides whisky the distillery also makes gin and vodka with a 1,000 litre still.

Ludlow Distillery
Founded by Mike Hardingham in 2009 to distill brandy from his vineyard using a 200-litre Kothe still in Clee St. Margaret's. In 2014 they started to distill whisky. The first peated version was released in 2018 named Young Prince, commemorating Edward V of England who was based in Ludlow Castle. In 2020, the distillery was joined with Ludlow Gin, and relocated in 2023 to Ludlow Farm Shop.

They also produce Brandy, Apple Brandy and Eaux de vie.

The Oxford Artisan Distillery
The Oxford Artisan Distillery (TOAD) is located next to the Headington's South Park in the old city council depot at Cheney Farm. In 2017, Tom Nicolson and Tagore Ramoutar founded the distillery where master distiller Cory Mason started distilling rye whisky, gin, and vodka. Four organic farms, all near Oxford, supplies the distillery with rye, wheat, and barley.

The largest still "Nautilus" has a capacity of 2,400 litres with a column of 42 plates; a smaller 500-litre still known as "Nemo". Both were built by South Devon Railway Engineering.

In Spring 2021, the distillery launched its rye whisky, produced by the Portuguese master distiller, Chico Rosa.

The Spirit of Manchester Distillery
Now based underneath renovated former railway arches on Watson Street in Manchester, the distillery was founded in 2016 by owners Jen and Seb, initially beginning with the production of gin from their dining room in Chorlton.

Production of whisky began in 2022 and currently takes place on their carbon neutral, 750L pot still 'Leo', named after Leonardo Fibonacci and his golden ratio, tying into the brand name of 'One Point Six Whisky'.

Spirit of Yorkshire Distillery
Based in Hunmanby, near Scarborough, North Yorkshire. Partnered with the Woldtop Brewery Co., this distillery has been producing single malt since 2016.

From the barley grown on their farm and the water from their estate they make a single malt, using oil-fired Forsyth Stills. The spirit still is 3,500 L while the wash still is 5,000 L, with which they aim to produce 80,000 litres per annum.

Their single malt whisky has been bottled since 2019 under the Filey Bay label. Like many of the other distilleries that used the consultancy of the late Jim Swan (1941-2017), the company offers STR expression.

St George's Distillery
St George's Distillery in Roudham, Norfolk, began production in 2006 and was the first registered whisky distillery in England for over a century,

The company founder James Nelstrop described it as a 45-year-old dream to make whisky in Norfolk and said that barley has historically been sent from Norfolk to Scotland to make whisky.

White Peak Distillery
Near the village of Ambergate, on the bank of the River Derwent, Derbyshire, there is an old wire factory. Claire and Max Vaughan started the White Peak Distillery in 2017, in one of the buildings of this complex.

The first spirit for the whisky is casked in the spring of 2018. In the meantime the progress can be followed by the single malt spirit that is released. Gin and rum are also part of the companies product range.

Whittaker's Distillery
The Whittakers intended to brew beer but a study at Heriot Watt changed his mind. The distillery started in 2015, making gin with two 100 litre Hillbilly stills on their farm in Dacre Banks. The first step into whisky production was taken in 2018, when an expansion plan was announced. That distillery was formally opened by the Earl of Harewood in August 2019.

The new still is made by ABE and has a 1,000 litre capacity.

Wharf Distillery
Wharf Distillery is an independent small batch distillery founded in 2012 by Laurence Conisbee initially to produce apple brandy, Æppel Drenc, from its own cider (Virtual Orchard Cider ).

The distillery uses a 300-litre hand-beaten copper pot alembic still from Portugal and a German Kothe still. Their range now includes gin Safine Drenc, vodka Gadan Drenc, Fyr Drenc (a grain spirit made from malted barley), and apple brandy Æppel Drenc

Their first whisky, named Cattle Creep after the narrow tunnel passing under the nearby Grand Union Canal, was released in January 2019. Matured in a 55L Madeira cask, this very limited release was bottled at 42.9% with a cask strength Distiller's Cut at 58.8% being made available in June 2019. The release of their whisky made them England's smallest whisky distillery.

The distillery takes its name from its original location on Galleon Wharf alongside the Grand Union Canal, although it is now located in the market town of Towcester, Northamptonshire.

The London Distillery Company
The London Distillery Company was the first whisky Distillery in London for over 100 years. Originally, based in a former dairy cold room in Battersea, London until December 2015 before moving to a railway arch in Bermondsey.

TLDC was registered with Companies House in July 2011 by Darren Rook, and investor and former microbrewery owner, Nick Taylor.

Rook resigned as CEO in late 2017. His replacement failed multiple times to secure funding from new & existing investors. In January 2020, the company went into administration. The British Honey Company purchased the Dodd's Gin and Rye brands.

Economic

 * Economy of England
 * Food and drink industry in England

Liquors

 * Gin

Whisky
 * List of whisky brands in England
 * Outline of whisky
 * List of whisky brands
 * List of British Standards

Wine

 * English sparkling wine
 * English wine cask units