Cotswolds Distillery: Bringing you a spirit experience like no other
Nestled in the Cotswolds countryside in an area of ‘Outstanding Natural Beauty’, the Cotswolds Distillery offers a variety of unique spirits, along with the rare opportunity for visitors to see them being made.
Established in 2014 by Daniel Szor, the Cotswolds Distillery is one of the very few distilleries producing English whiskey, and one of the few that allows visitors to observe its production.
Whisky legend Jim Swan, known as the ‘Einstein of whisky’, helped to set up The Cotswolds Distillery.
“We asked Jim for his guidance and he was instrumental in helping us to optimise our production process and elaborate our wood programme,” says Daniel Szor. Jim developed the ‘STR’ (shaved, toasted & re-charred) cask which the Cotswolds Distillery has embraced as an important element of its signature style.
Cotswolds is known for its outstanding single malt whiskey, and has also branched out into producing the finest quality gins, all sourced from natural, local ingredients.
Launched in October 2017, Cotswolds Single Malt Whisky is the first whisky ever distilled in the Cotswolds. The distillery uses 100% locally grown, floor-malted barley and matures the whisky in first-fill ex-Bourbon barrels and reconditioned red wine casks. This English whisky is rich, fruity and sippable, with notes of honey, Seville orange marmalade and dark red fruits. Each bottle lists the barley variety, harvest year and local Cotswolds farm on which it was grown.
TASTING NOTES
Nose:
Notes of honey and butterscotch layered with
light fruits (peaches & apricots), a hint of marzipan.
Palate:
Strong notes of tannin-rich malt, oils and dark sugar
with lots of spice, caramelised Seville orange marmalade.
Finish:
Long and resinous, with dark red fruits and a subtle hint of treacle.
In additon to this, Cotswolds also produces a range of high quality gins- similarly made from natural and local ingredients.
Cotswolds Dry Gin has crisp notes of freshly peeled citrus pink grapefruit. It is clean on the palate with subtle hand peeled lime zest and local Cotswolds lavender and has a cooling finish with juniper and citrus.
It is distilled with a blend of nine carefully-considered botanicals. The Head Distiller uses over ten times the average amount of botanicals used by most premium gins and, because the gin is non-chill filtered, the oils are retained in the gin which causes a pearlescent cloud to appear when ice or tonic is added, creating the unique ‘Cloudy G&T’.
Cotswolds has also produced a Cotswolds No. 1 Wildflower Gin. This is a unique blend of cornflowers, lavender, orange and rhubarb root, layered over a classic London Dry gin. Inspired by the wildflowers growing in the ‘Glorious Grasslands’ of the Cotswolds, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the No. 1 Wildflower Gin has been created by marrying premium botanical essences with the gin distilling and blending skills of the Cotswolds Distillery team.
Cotswolds Distillery has bee open to visitors ever since it was founded in 2014. A new Visitor Centre opened in May 2019 with a Shop and Distillery Cafe which serves food made with locally sourced ingredients and a range of cocktails. The Distillery has received the ‘Hidden Gem’ award from VisitEngland and the TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence. Below are the available tours and events you can book at the distillery.
DISTILLERY TOUR & TASTING:
Cost: £15 per person
Duration: approx 90 minutes
Includes: Guided tour of the distillery including the
production areas and warehouse followed by a tasting
of the full range of spirits.
GIN BLENDING MASTERCLASS
AT THE DISTILLERY & BROADWAY SHOP:
Cost: £100 per person
Includes: Guided tour of the Distillery
(Distillery Masterclass only), 1 x Cotswolds G&T,
2 x Cotswolds Dry Gin cocktails, 2 x 20cl bottles of
bespoke gin, 1 x 20cl bottle of Cotswolds Dry Gin.
WHISKY BLENDING MASTERCLASS
AT THE DISTILLERY:
Cost: £100 per person
Includes: Guided tour of the Distillery, 1 x Cotswolds
Whisky Highball, 1 x Cotswolds Whisky cocktail,
2 x 20cl bottles of bespoke single malt whisky,
1 x bottle of Cotswolds Single Malt Whisky.
COCKTAIL MASTERCLASS
AT THE DISTILLERY:
Cost: £50 per person
Includes: ‘Cotswolds Cloudy’ G&T on arrival, samples of
2 x cocktails, make 2 of your own cocktails, takeaway
goody bag
Cotswolds has 3 distillery locations:
Cotswolds Distillery
Phillips Field, Whichford Road, Stourton,
Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire. CV36 5HG
Bourton-on-the-Water
2 The Forge, High Street. Bourton-on-the-Water. Gloucestershire. GL54 2AN
Broadway
33 High Street, Broadway, Worcestershire. WR12 7DP
Visit their website here to find out more.
