This month we're sharing some English Whisky label stories to mark St George's Day, with some labels from distilleries that were due to feature at this years Spirit of Speyside Festival.
St George is the Patron Saint of England, and St. George's Day falls on April 23rd every year. The first new whisky distillery to be built in over 100 years was the English Whisky Company's aptly named St George Distillery in Roudham Norfolk. There are now 16 distilleries listed as making malt whisky in England, and we've now bottled two of them.
The Spirit of Speyside is an annual event that fall on or around the last weekend of April,. Access to distilleries not ordinarily open to the public is often granted to distilleries like Glanlossie and Linkwood, both distilleries rarely available as single malts. Although not technically classed as a Speyside distillery, this year the Ardmore distillery was opening it's doors to visitors, and hence why we've included it in this months batch.
Cotswolds Distillery
This label is based on the theme of a bright colourful vintage leaflet of a typical Cotswolds village; Castle Combe. The elegant swan on the river represents Jim Swan who helped found the distillery. Distillery founder Daniel Szor is pictured driving the company land rover over the bridge. There's a slight ‘Midsomer Murders’ feel going on too with a body badly hidden under the bushes!
English Whisky Co
Our label features the epic struggle between St. George and the dragon as experienced from within the plucky George's helmet. What we can see is what the dragon is guarding - why that armoured fellow isn't
freeing a maiden, he's after the gold! The golden whisky, that is...
Linkwood
Our label makes reference to a joke in an old British sitcom called ‘Only Fools and Horses.’ One of the characters, Trigger, goes on about his favourite broom he’s had 20 years, just with different heads and handles. It’s still the same broom, though. Right?
The Linkwood distillery was a new distillery, built alongside the old distillery, eventually taking over completely. It’s a different distillery, but it’s still Linkwood. Right?
Glenlossie
Our label features a diagram of the onion-shaped stills that produce Glenlossie's whisky. We’ve taken the name a little too literally and have even included a spring-onion-lyne-arm and a garlic-bulb-condenser!
Ardmore
Few distilleries have had such a long and solid relationship with the same blend that Ardmore has with Teachers. The distillery was founded by the Teachers family. Our label teaches (teachers, get it?) you about the parts of a cask.
It’s a shockingly bad pun...