THE ENGLISH DISTILLERY RELEASES CASK 001 – THE BIRTH OF ENGLISH WHISKY’S REVIVAL
‘Historic’ distillery offers a once-in-a-generation release of the whisky that began a national revival…
… & the perfect toast to the visionary who made it possible
Aged for 18 years, Cask 001 will be the oldest single malt English whisky to ever be released for sale
Alongside this historic release, The English Distillery will additionally honour the memory of its visionary founder, James Nelstrop, with the limited edition release of Founders’ Private Cellar 18 Year Old, the oldest edition of the family’s annual Private Cellar collection to date
The English Distillery today reveals the long-awaited release of Cask 001 – a whisky of rare provenance and deep historical significance. Distilled in 2006, the cask was the inaugural filling by England’s first registered whisky distillery in more than 100 years, making it the defining foundation of England’s modern whisky renaissance.
Created by legendary master distiller Iain Henderson, this historic spirit was hand casked at The English Distillery in Norfolk, which at the time was a bold, untested venture driven by the singular vision of the distillery’s founder, James Nelstrop. For 18 years, the cask has rested low in the cool stone walls of the distillery’s Bond 1 warehouse, gently shaped by time, climate, and stillness.
Just 60 bottles (RRP: £3,000, 70cl) will be released, each one a quiet monument to the return of whisky distilling on English soil.
“There’s whisky, and then there’s Cask 001,” says Andrew Nelstrop, Chairman of The English Distillery and James Nelstrop’s son. “This isn’t just a remarkable spirit, it’s a historical artefact. My father built this distillery from a dream, and this cask is where it all began.”
James Nelstrop, a Norfolk farmer with deep agricultural roots, founded the distillery not for accolades but for legacy — determined that England could produce whisky as fine as any in the world. With no investors and no roadmap, he created the country’s first operational whisky distillery since 1901, declaring it would make nothing but the finest single malt, no matter how long it took.
That quiet perseverance bore exceptional fruit last year, when The English Sherry Cask won World’s Best Single Malt at the 2024 World Whiskies Awards — beating revered distilleries from Scotland, Japan, and beyond. The award cemented the distillery’s – and England’s – place on the global whisky map, and fulfilled James Nelstrop’s founding ambition.
“Cask 001 is the whisky that lit the spark,” says Andrew. “It slept through the years as we built our range, earned the respect of the whisky world, and finally brought the title of World’s Best home to Norfolk.”
To honour the unique provenance of Cask 001, The English Distillery partnered with Langham Glass – master glassblowers from Norfolk – to craft hand-blown decanters that reflect the craftsmanship and purity of the spirit they hold. Each bottle is a collector’s piece, a work of art forged by local hands, just like the whisky itself.
Unpeated, bottled at natural cask strength, and untouched by chill-filtration or added colour, Cask 001 offers a profoundly pure experience – its depth and complexity shaped by 18 silent years, Norfolk’s air, and a founding promise to do things the right way.
Founders’ Private Cellar 18 Year Old: A Toast to the Man Behind the Mission
To continue the 18th anniversary celebrations, The English Distillery today also unveils the rarest and oldest edition to date of its annual Private Cellar range, offering whisky lovers another limited opportunity to explore the pinnacle of world-class whisky-making at this seminal moment.
The Private Cellar collection features the oldest and rarest whiskies in the distillery’s stocks and delivers the kind of depth, nuance and richness that cannot be replicated or reproduced. Each year the family selects a handful of unique and interesting casks to be placed into their private collection. When ready for drinking, these casks are returned to the distillery for bottling under the Private Cellar range.
“As with Cask 001, this is also a deeply personal release for our family as we celebrate 18 years of whisky making,” adds Andrew Nelstrop. “Founders’ Private Cellar 18 Year Old is composed of the oldest and most characterful casks in our collection, and offers a full-bodied, contemplative single malt that is perfect for sharing, remembering, and raising a glass to my father, the man who made it all possible.”
Product Information:
Cask 001
- Distilled: 2006
- ABV: 54.2%
- Casks: Over the last 18 years this whisky has remained at the distillery, being disturbed just twice – once to be transferred into a single sherry cask, before being returned to its original American Standard Barrel (ASB) where it has lain quietly, low down in Bond 1, and where the air is cool, the walls thick with history and where time moves slowly. It has matured in silence, shaped by patience, place, and purpose.
- Tasting notes: What a whisky… on the nose there are initially aromas of vanilla, red fruit and sandalwood, leave it a while and this changes to crème brûlée & fresh strawberries. A little taste reveals a rich caramel with plenty of oak & stewed apples. This is a full bodied whisky and hence has a lovely long finish; a whisky to be savoured over a long quiet evening.
- Packaging: Hand-blown decanter by Langham Glass, Norfolk
- Availability: 60 bottles globally from 25th September
- Price: £3,000/bottle
Founders’ Private Cellar 18 Year Old
- ABV: 55.4%
- Casks: Rum Cask
- Tasting Notes: Full bodied with warming notes of cinnamon and clove underpinned by smooth vanilla, raisins and boiled tropical sweets. Final notes of chocolate and liquorish are finished with a sweet linger of tropical fruit and slight oak smoke.
- Availability: 174 bottles globally from 11th September
- Price: £395/bottle
Notes
At a time when world-class whisky made in England was unthinkable, our father and son founders, James and Andrew Nelstrop, took a chance and kickstarted a category. From dream to dram, every aspect of The English is born of their vision.
As the home of the ‘World’s Best Single Malt Whisky’ 2024 and England’s oldest whisky distillery, we believe in working to make great whiskies that aren’t hard work. Nothing weird or wacky, no gimmicks or trends. Just world-class spirits that are approachable but never dumbed down.
We remain a family business with the aim to build a legacy, not an exit strategy. We are proud to have breathed new life into English whisky distilling, and we will continue to set the standard for generations to come.
The distillery has a unique place in history. In 1901 the last recorded whisky distillery in England swapped from whisky to gin production before being destroyed by fire. This saw the end of whisky distilleries in England until The English Whisky Co. Ltd was granted a license to distil whisky by HMRC. In 2006 it opened the first registered, operational whisky distillery in England for over 100 years.
Our founder James Nelstrop was the younger son of a Lincolnshire farmer. James spent his formative years farming in Lincolnshire before emigrating to Australia, where farms were bigger and opportunities were plentiful. James returned to England in 1976 and went to work the land in Norfolk, Suffolk and Lincolnshire. He also set up farming charities to improve the agricultural industry as the country emerged from 30 years of communist control before returning to Norfolk.
As James neared retirement, a lifetime’s dream to make whisky became a possibility. The dream had grown from a throwaway comment made by James’ father, who said it was a “shame all this barley has to go to Scotland to be turned into whisky.”
The decision to build the distillery in Norfolk was quickly taken and with only one caveat: The distillery would produce only the very finest single malt whiskies, regardless of the time it took to get there. This mantra has become the foundation of everything that we do at The English Distillery.
The distillery is now led by James’ son Andrew, who continues to follow in his father’s footsteps.
