As an ex-farmer, this time of year is always full of promise. Most of the crops are sown and starting to grow nicely now, the weather is dry and warm enough for garden furniture to start being used again and of course the lawn mower is serviced and back in gainful employment.
Our barley is growing nicely on a family farm near Lincoln, each year this provides a good portion of our barley needs, it is a real treat to be able to have barley grown by Nelstrop’s, harvested by Nelstrop’s, milled, distilled, matured and finally bottled by Nelstrop’s. This really is field to glass production; I have an inkling we may be the only whisky distillery that can and does do this.
We have lots of news from the distillery – so in no particular order…
The distillery has been privileged to have been used as a polling station for the General Election. What was billed as the most exciting election campaign for a generation had in my humble opinion become a little stale but I am sure you all still had a favourite to put a tick against – no one saw that result in their crystal ball – well done the blues and to our northern cousins, commiserations to the others. My sincere apologies to all of you who didn’t have free whisky at your own polling stations to assist in the voting procedure.
I would like to welcome two new members of staff. Peggy & Joyce have joined the team as new tour guides, hopefully you will enjoy their company for an hour when you come and do a tour. We are also thinking of taking on a boy/girl Friday to help with the telephones, web orders and in the shop generally, so if anyone knows of someone locally who is incredibly cheerful, willing to work hard and willing to learn – tell them to send a short resume in to us.
Some of you now have a Founders Private Cellar – The Last Signature in your possession. You also have to make a decision whether to open one of the bottles or keep it intact. We may have a solution for you. One of our lovely customers would like to buy a case and open it for a tasting session and would like to invite 18-20 of you to join him at the distillery to sample your wares. A charge of £35 would be all that was needed. We will also find some other yummy whiskies to make it a great event. Do ring Sarah and let her know if you are interested.
Our distillers are of course busy making new whisky to be laid down for their big sleep and busy choosing whisky to be bottled. This spring we have bottled a new Chapter 13 (the one with the big red letter box on the label) which has been very popular. By demand from you all a new batch of Chapter 7 (matured in a rum cask) is being bottled as we speak, this will be a tiny bottling as only one cask was available, so if you are a fan of 7 be quick. For the single cask fanatics amongst you, we very quietly released a new Founders last week; this is a single malt matured in a Sassicaia cask – pretty special and very rare.
It will be father’s day in a couple of weeks and this has always been lively time for whisky sales. A very firm favourite has been the Personalised Label, which for only an extra £5 makes for a great gift. Can I ask those of you who intend to go down this route to do it now rather than on the 5th June! Our lovely Sarah does all the labels and whilst we all know she is superhuman, she does need to sleep just occasionally. We will also give free postage on any order containing a 70cl bottle of English Whisky between 1st June and 21st June.
Hopefully you will be aware that our membership is now up and running. The Fellowship has proved to be a great hit, so if you have someone you are struggling to by a pressie for – this maybe the answer.
Some minor changes to the coffee shop… all of us smile and look far more cheerful in shop area, apparently someone was spotted being less than cheerful (this may have been me, which is why they tend to keep me locked in an office!) our cakes, which are made by Judy’s daughter in the neighbouring village, have had their time on display halved – so are incredibly fresh and I have re-introduced some local wines (by the bottle) from our great friends up the road at Humbleyard Winery. A bottle of wine and a slice of cake on the lawn is a lovely way to spend half an hour.
Coming up soon:
May 27th-28th:
Suffolk Show
We will be at the Suffolk Show, come and find us in the Food Hall – this year the stall will have Sarah, Paul & Tina pouring you drinks making sure you are suitably refreshed to carry on around the show.
June 13th:
Whisky Lounge Bristol
A bit further from home, English Whisky is going to Bristol for the first time, we will have a stand as the Whisky Lounge event. Click to find out more.
June 24-25th:
Lincoln County Show
A firm favourite and as usual we will be in the food court. A lovely show and worth a visit if you haven’t been before.
July 1st-2nd:
Royal Norfolk Show
We will be in the main food hall and as we never seem to have the same stand at this show you will have to walk the aisles exploring all the wonderful offerings and feasting on freebies in order to find us – such a hard life!
Kind Regards,
ANDREW NELSTROP
Managing Director
English Whisky Co. Ltd
St George’s Distillery
Harling Road
Roudham
Norfolk
NR16 2QW
