What a year 2025 has been. Not just for The English Distillery but for the country and world in general. I am assured it is just a function of age, but I remain convinced the world spins a little faster every year. So much to do and so little time; therefore you might be pleased to know that I have been banned from writing a 4-page missive like some previous years – so short and sweet it will be…

2025 was momentous for us: It has been 20 years since we sat and had a family meeting and decided to build England’s first registered whisky distillery for over a century. It has been 19 years since we started distilling, and most importantly, we had 18 year old whisky to share with you all. 18 year old whisky felt like a milestone had been passed, and to celebrate it, we released three different whiskies. The first was Chapter 18 (the name a nod to our earlier releases); next was an 18 year old Founders’ Private Cellar, and lastly was a bottling of some of the whisky still maturing in Cask 001. All three were delicious, and all three sold out solely thanks to all of you being the most wonderful supporters of the distillery. I was immensely proud of the releases and humbled by your incredibly generous and unwavering support. Thank you all.

2025 also saw us finish Bond 5, which brings the total cask capacity of the distillery to 12,300 casks. Should we ever fill all the space, that is a lot of whisky sleeping, the total will be somewhere in the region of 4 million bottles worth!!  In reality, we will never see all that whisky as the Norfolk Angels are pretty greedy and take a large slurp from every cask each year. The new shed is very smart, though, and is another tick box in the progression of the brand. On a side note, we have another company called Cadus Vaults that offers cask maturation space to other distilleries, and this has been a success over the last few years, now looking after whisky from not only other English distilleries but also from around the world. Did you know that, having been the only English Whisky Distillery at one point, today we have a list of 72 operating, being built or planned in England. Amazing!

Those of you who have visited the distillery this year will have noticed that the distillery shop continues its morphing from a whisky shop to a now delightful lifestyle shop that also happens to have a good selection of whisky and other local booze in it. It is always tough to hand over the reins, but having let Katy (my wife & better half) loose in the last year, it turns out to have been a fab decision, and the shop is a delight to visit, now selling everything from greetings cards to blankets to jigsaws. This, along with the wonderfully run Grain Kitchen, has revitalised the distillery as a destination, and I am pleased to confirm more of you have visited than ever before, which is great. Our conference facilities at the distillery are becoming increasingly popular, apparently because the space is a delight, and as importantly, we are only a minute off the A11, which is pretty handy for those bringing teams together. – Hows that for a sales pitch!

It is normally at this point that I embark on a rant about our incumbent politicians (regardless of party), but I am struggling this year on where to start and where to end. Is there no end to the misery they can inflict on the drinks and hospitality trade (wage rates, NI, business rates & duty being the main concerns); but also on you my customers with attacks on pensions, inheritance etc. The main moan, though, has to be on income tax. Do they really think you and I can’t see a freeze in allowances as another way of increasing income tax? The promise they built their campaign on – broken. Surely they don’t think we are all that stupid.  I shouldn’t moan, the distillery is in a good position, but I can’t help but wonder when we will next see any politicians put the long-term good of the country before the short-term needs of re-election. A 4 – 5 year cycle of economic planning simply doesn’t cut it. We deal in 50-year maturation cycles, and the government should be thinking in similar timescales when making plans. They will never do this, though, as it is not in their interest, or more importantly, it is probably not even on their radar to be planning for another generation, but this is what family businesses do every day. Ho-hum… move on.

2026 – Plenty to look forward to. The team are already planning next year’s whisky-making and bottlings, and there are some lovely releases coming. I also have a big surprise, that if I get my act together, I shall let you all know about in the spring. We are also in the process of buying a new site for some extra maturation space, and for those of you a little further afield, we have had some good talks with new markets around the world – so watch this space.

I do wish you all a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope you get to share it with family or friends (or both) and that you manage to take just a bit of time to stop, relax and share a giggle or a hug.

On to 2026 – hope to see you then.

Andrew Nelstrop

CHAIRMAN
English Whisky Co. Ltd