At a time when world-class Whisky made in England was unthinkable, our father & son founders James and Andrew Nelstrop took a chance and kickstarted a category.

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 making in England until The English Distillery was granted a license to distil whisky at its Norfolk site by HMRC. In 2006 it became the first registered, operational whisky distillery in England for over 100 years, creating a unique place in history.

When our founders built the distillery, they chose a spot directly above a source of sweet, mineral-rich water, the same water that’s made our whisky every day since 2006. Without our corner of Norfolk, our whisky wouldn’t be the same. Our roots are as deeply embedded in the Norfolk soil (right below the bedrock, in fact) as they can be. Norfolk’s microclimate is optimal for barrel aging with clean air, mild winters and dry summers and has the perfect conditions for growing barley. Every drop of The English whisky is aged in carefully selected barrels onsite.