Wow – this year has gone fast…

 It seems only weeks ago I was writing the last Christmas letter. Who’d have thought, a year ago, that we would have seen our Chancellor actually reduce tax on alcohol? Sadly it wasn’t going to change your lives, as on a £40 bottle of our whisky, the chancellor saved you 18p which nearly negated the double increase in wages, to have occurred by April 2016, which he has imposed.

The distillery has seen some very positive changes this year. We now have Elaine on board to answer your calls and deal with your web orders, so hopefully you have all received the items you ordered or, better still, items someone else ordered for you. Sadly Elaine has still not worked out how to stop the couriers playing football with your whisky and the inevitability of some broken bottles continues to be something of a challenge. You may be interested to know that we test our packaging by dropping a wrapped parcel off the mezzanine floor – if a bottle can survive this, it beggars belief that a courier can break it.

We also have welcomed Colin to the team – he has taken over my role dealing with Exports and, after only a few months, appears to be rather better at this than I was – so hopefully we will see new markets starting to sell English Whisky. There is now plenty of English Whisky in Taiwan if you happen to find yourself there.

Our distillers David & Stephen have continued their good work and we have become the first whisky company ever to be voted best Whisky Maker in Europe two years running. Congratulations to them – they deserve the accolade.

Sarah, she who is chief in charge of all things, was married this summer and therefore has a new surname – Sarah Thacker has become Sarah Carvell. It was a great day topped off by the catering being a fish & chip van along with a crepe van, my idea of heaven!

Sadly, George our new distillery dog has been retired from the role at the ripe old age of 18 months! He had developed a habit of greeting each visitor with a bark that was slightly louder than the Portland Bill fog horn. The final straw was the day I thought this exuberant welcome was going to cause a mass heart failure in a group of elderly customers. Luckily they all survived, but George has been banished at least until he learns to be a little quieter. Visitors are still very welcome to bring their dogs and take them on the riverside walk, play with them on the lawn, etc (no dogs inside though).

Our member’s club has been well received and, as numbers grow, I would love to stage some exclusive functions for them. If any of you have an ideas or requests for such an event, please let us know.

2016 is definitely a year to look forward to. We have plans to finally install a kitchen at the distillery so we can feed you when you visit rather than ply you with booze and coffee. I think this will be a good thing, although a few of the regulars seem quite happy with the booze and coffee theme…

We will also launch an all new whisky later on in the year. It will be quite limited to start with but is truly spectacular… so keep reading your newsletters, etc.

I wish you all the very best for 2016 and hope you have a lovely Christmas amongst family and friends.

Merry Christmas,

Andrew Nelstrop
Managing Director
English Whisky Co. Ltd
St George’s Distillery
Harling Road
Roudham
Norfolk
NR16 2QW