“It’s always great to have a go yourself… we’re always learning.”
Toby Whittaker, Co-Founder
NIDDERDALE
In the Yorkshire Dales National Park sits the picturesque valley of the River Nid, home to this fascinating English Whisky distillery, on the cusp of greatness…
YORKSHIRE SPIRIT
Toby and Jane Whittaker don’t do things by halves. When they first considered making gin on their farm in Yorkshire, Toby went to Heriot-Watt University (the home of distilling education) as a mature student to learn his art. Learning from graduates including Abhi Banik (now Head Distillery at Copper Rivet Distillery), Toby’s heart was set on making whisky, but the initial costs seemed too prohibitive and he returned to Yorkshire to set-up a gin distillery that was more within their means.
GIN-SPIRTION
4 years into their gin journey they won a competition with the American Distilling Institute and attended the conference and awards ceremony in the USA. Here they not only collected their gin award, but also met still manufacturers and distilleries who reignited their passion for whisky – and at a realistic cost for American made brewing & distilling equipment. Heading home they made the decision to expand the distillery and leverage their success with gin (and the ‘gin boom’) to start making the thing they’d always dreamed of, but had thought impossible at the start.
EARLY CHALLENGES & CHANCES
But things weren’t all plain sailing. Even after their shiny new American kit was installed, it still took 6 months of testing mashes and fermentations before they were confident they had the right process in place to start filling casks. And then Covid hit. But in some ways this was a blessing, as it gave them not only time, but also personnel – as two local US airmen on furlough (Derek and Blake) asked to come and help with distilling. The “Americans” are now a permanent fixture of the distillery and attended the English Whisky Festival last year to share maturing spirits from the distillery.
KEEPING IT LOCAL
Wanting to make the most local produce possible they use their own spring water and Toby managed to convince his farmer brother-in-law to start growing barley (laureate and now Diablo) in the same valley (on the edge of the river Nid) – only leaving the valley to be malted by Thomas Fawcett’s (a 200 year old floor malting in Castleford, just 25 minutes away). They’ve also experimented with small batches of corn and rye, but after a “soul-destroying” mashing process, they’ve decided to stick with Yorkshire single malt.
Ever experimenting, Toby recently made 700 litres of beer to sell in their own bar / shop – he’s yet to perfect the recipe, but he just can’t stop himself, in his own words, “biting off more than he can chew”. But, luckily (for us at least), their main focus is and always will be Single Malt whisky, which from sampling to date is where they’re making their very best product.
“SPEYSIDE STYLE”
Crafting what they refer to as a “Speyside style product” they’re not trying to be too experimental or controversial when it comes to their whisky – just high quality single malt in a variety of cask types which they’ll release over time. They would like to experiment with blending, but “that’s a whole other skillset” they’ve yet to learn – but knowing these two it won’t be long before they try their hand at it (and undoubtedly succeed as they’re wont to do in their endeavours). They had a lot of love for the Cooper King team (Their whisky neighbours) and collaborate with them frequently – only the other week Abbie called up to check their gravity reading when her own didn’t seem right. Unlike the gin world they’ve experienced far greater collaboration in the English Whisky scene.
Totally un-peated spirit (though they do have some peated casks in the warehouse) they won’t have a consistent product out given they’re planning single cask releases for now until they have greater breadth and depth in their maturing stock. However this makes for exciting variations and ever-unique products for drinkers to enjoy.
THE FUTURE
In Toby’s own words “We’re always learning”. He’s now doing the IBD spirit sensory analysis course in which you taste and analyse whiskies. They’ve also had a distiller down from Ballendalloch who “knows everything there is to know in terms of production but also tasting” – including the tip to water down cask samples two parts water to one part whisky rather than drinking it at cask strength when sampling.
And he summed up with a fascinating line “It’s always great to have a go yourself” – and we, for one, are very pleased they’ve ‘had a go’ at making whisky and can’t wait to crack into their first release on a tasting with our members in due course.
BUY A BOTTLE
At the time of writing there were still bottles of both their first release (one of the first four casks, bottled at cask strength) & first edition (a vatting of 6 ex-bourbon casks & watered down to drinking ABV) available over at https://www.whittakerswhisky.com
KEY STATS
Location: Nidderdale, Yorkshire
Production – 200L new make / week
2019 first casks laid down
50% ex-Bourbon casks
40% Sherry casks
10% Rum + other casks
