The English Smokey Single Malt

The bouquet is quite sweet and savoury, with a dose of white pepper, smoked ham and peat. Hints of vanilla, aniseed and ginger cake. Lemon and lime zest. A clean creamy palate with astringent dry oak, the pepper and peat then develop. Light peat initially then a smoke bomb! Again, fruity (think lemon rinds). The vanilla, ginger and aniseed are still there with tropical fruit. The finish is long, spicy and smoky.

The Nelstrop family has a 600-year tradition of growing and processing grain. In 2005 the family decided to build a distillery and make its own whisky, this would be England’s first whisky distillery in over 100 years. The best barley is grown in Norfolk and the Breckland water is peerless. In December 2006, the distillery was able to make the first 29 barrels of English whisky and the following year HRH Prince Charles officially opened the distillery. The English Whisky Company distills four days a week, for 44 weeks of the year, which produces around 150,000 bottles of whisky.