My English whisky journey
My English Whisky journey started nine years ago in May 2014 when I visited the English Whisky Distillery in Norfolk with my wife and then six-week old daughter. As you can expect my daughter wasn’t massively enchanted by it all, but I find it amazing to reflect on how much she has changed in that time, whilst some of the whisky we saw being distilled is still ageing in the same warehouse. I definitely don’t have the patience to be a whisky maker.
During lockdown I bought far too much whisky, but also made some great online friends (with a particular shout-out to the Whisky Circus – which has collectively released four English releases and No Nonsense Whisky Vin’s discord channel). Some of these friends/enablers were also responsible for getting me interested in Bimber – which really kickstarted my deeper interest.
Bimber Distillery
Bimber is a fascinating distillery, driven by people with great passion for their craft which is totally infectious and as a result amazingly tasty whisky. It’s also a couple of miles from where I work in Wembley so I’ve visited there more times than I can count. We’re currently in merger talks with another organisation headquartered in Basingstoke so I thought it serendipitous when on my last visit I found out that all of Bimber’s grain comes from a farm just outside Basingstoke.
Chance encounters don’t end there. On a recent visit to Paris I managed to convince my daughter (hasn’t she grown!) to detour to La Maison du Whisky where I bought their latest special release peated Bimber. The first peated single cask they have released.
It was just as the world seemed to be starting to return to normal that I became aware of the Exploring English Whisky club and I proudly became one of the first members. The inaugural festival was held online in September 2021. Whilst I couldn’t make every session live I think I bought ‘tickets’ (and samples) to most sessions and enjoyed catching up later on the others. My favourite session was the blind tasting (despite the fact I don’t think I got any right!) although the whisky and chocolate pairing was also great. The samples I didn’t manage to drink along at the time formed part of my self-made advent calendar that Christmas!
Whilst I sadly haven’t made it to one of the in-person festivals yet I have taken part in a number of other online tastings including with Cooper King, Circumstance and a few varied ‘best of English’ line-ups. In each of these I’ve got to taste interesting whiskies, learn from experts and have engaging chats with other members.
Benefits
The club also offers exclusive access and discounts on shares in casks of maturing whisky through Still in Cask, which I’ve taken account of to get forthcoming bottles of very interesting looking Cooper King (distilled by the Whisky Circus’ very own @WhiskySophie), White Peak and Circumstance. It also offers a regularly rotating range of discounts currently featuring tours, tastings and workshops at a range of English distilleries.
The discord channel isn’t so active as to completely rinse your phone battery but a great resource to share recent purchases and ask questions of other English whisky fans.
Contributed May 2023
