Nice Shane, this one sounds very promising. Kudos Spirit of Yorkshire for not relying on STR casks even though they're students of Dr. Jim Swan. I would love if distilleries especially the new ones give a 3cl sample of their new makes when you purchase a bottle, just to see where the spirit comes from. Maybe one day :)
Yes I really got on well with it. Probably partly down to the lack of STR as you mentioned 😉 I'd love to try the New Make from Spirit of Yorkshire. I think it'd be great. And I'd love it if New Make were more available across the board (like Cotswold's White Pheasant). Probably not that many people would be interested... but for people like us it would be wonderful.
You know, the more of your reviews I watch, the more I'm enjoying and appreciating your review style. You are quickly becoming one of my favourite whisky reviewers for your accuracy of information and presentation. Kilchoman distillery uploaded an excellent RUclips video for their 100% Islay release (I believe it was their 6th edition?) where they took you through the entire whisky process. It was a really good introduction to whisky making in general. I just found it.. it was uploaded in 2014 and called "Kilchoman Distillery 100% Islay". Well worth a watch. There is a video uploaded by "Spirit of Yorkshire Distillery" entitled "Spirit of Yorkshire Filey Bay Field to Bottle Film" where they actually show this extra piece of equipment. (Jump to 0:30). It sure does look like a copper column still but on the site they describe the the spirit still as being "a hybrid with a four-plate rectifying copper column". I'm not sure whether it can be technically considered a column still or whether it's considered part of the condenser but with rectifying plates, similar to some variation of Lomond still. It's not as if they aren't using two copper pot stills, there is a just an extra process after the double pot still distillation. Is the spirit actually being re-distilled in this column? What do you think? Regarding English Whisky and regulations. Currently, as I understand, there is a group of some 20 plus English Whisky distillers who are in discussions to ratify the legal definition. The general subject of discussion is between those who wish to keep as close to the UK government backed Scotch Whisky Association regulations and those who want more flexibility to experiment without limitations. Particularly, there is a dispute as to how to define the term "Single Malt English Whisky". The SWA Regulations specify that Single Scotch Malt Whisky must be matured exclusively in copper pot stills. Even if the barley used was 100% malted barley, but matured in column stills, it will be legally defined as "Grain Scotch Whisky". However, the regulations also specify that, although other pieces of equipment such as the condensers, can be made of any type metal, the pot stills must be made of copper. There are in fact a few English distilleries whose pot stills are made of stainless steel! This would, under SWA regulations make it Grain Whisky as well, even though they are in fact pot stills! However, as I understand it, there is general consensus that if column stills have been used during the production of whisky in England, then they cannot called it "Malt English Whisky". As I said, all this needs to be ratified and currently, they could call their whisky anything they wanted to, besides using the word "Scotch", that is.
Thank you very much Reb! I will check out your Kilchoman video. I'm particularly interested because I was there in 2014 👍 It is very interesting what they're doing at Spirit of Yorkshire and I hope any rule changes don't cause issues for them or discourage such things because what they're doing obviously works well. Is it redistillation? Obviously a large grey area. Technically all reflux is a type of redistillation so I'd say yes but we're almost getting into semantics there in a less than useful way 🙂... Yes I believe they're calling it the English Whisky Guild. Exciting and promising... but also concerning that they'll cock it all up 😂 Unsurprisingly the one thing I'd love them to do is just outright ban e150 and intentionally chilling before filtration. That would make me unreasonably happy... and smug 😉... if we could knock that on the head when the SWA have resisted it for so long. As for stuff like the definition of English Single Malt... the existing SWR2009 classifications, while familiar at this point, could be better. You've already highlighted some worthwhile innovations that aren't currently allowed for Scotch. The thing I'd really appreciate them giving some attention to is grain whisky though. Currently as soon as you use a different mashbill or a continuous still your product gets lumped into 'the crap category' that is Single Grain. Aka the stuff that makes cheap blends bad! Or that's what a lot of people hear when someone says Single Grain anyway. IMHO something like the mixed mashbill, pot still single grains from English Whisky Company or Inchdairnie's Ryelaw don't belong in the same category as Haig Club. It's putting a lot of people off and is the reason why people generally aren't buying or even trying these interesting spirits. I don't know what, but some new classification or change in the rules could open up a lot of possibilities for these very interesting whiskies that are currently underappreciated. I'm also wary that they'll be too ambitious though. There's a good argument for mostly copying the Scotch rules because if you run two parallel sets of regulations then people will get confused and lose interest. It's already hard enough for most people to get their head around what a single malt is... I've lost count of the number of people who have suggested that it's whisky made from a single type of barley... 🤷♂️ 😂
@@WhiskyLock I like the way you think. BTW, In a recent video, Ralfy mentioned that there was a Distillery (I think he was talking about an English one), that uses stainless still pot stills but they are lined with copper inside! Now, which video did he mention that? I wonder how that fits into the regulations?
Yes very exciting times for English Whisky with multiple distilleries doing a great job. I haven't done the tour at Spirit of Yorkshire yet but its high on my list.
Excellent review! We had a chance to meet co-founder David Thompson, and his passion for the craft and his distillery really shows through when you see him speak. Love this bottle as well - it's a great example of how ex-bourbon, unpeated whisky can be done well. Lots of character, and when our bottle was down near the bottom, it turned into a total peach bomb. Cheers!
Shane, great review. I have a bottle of Flagship and I'm very impressed with it. I thought it had a similar flavor profile to Aultmore, maybe a NAS Aultmore. Cheers keep those reviews coming.
That's a great point. I agree that it has a real Aultmore vibe. I tried some samples from Aultmore after their last rebrand and liked them for many of the same reasons I like Filey Bay. Cheers 🥃
Great review & interesting start of a definition for English single malt & indeed questions about SWE vs EWD differences in defining English Whisky for the first time...I'm in love with this distillery & high standards they have, and also the care for blending good casks together so far...I enjoyed everything from them i tried last year in a show here, and looking forward to get (with a help of a UK friend) if possible this year's Yorkshire day as it has some Madeira casks involved (I'm a sucker for that) that I'll not be able to get here...Agree also about their very special process & style with this unique combination of stills, making things exciting already profile wise & potentially for the future with older expressions, and when I see all the new English distilleries popping in, I think the future is bright for them ! Cheers !
Ah those Madeira casks. I love Madeira too. Very interesting and encouraging things going on at Spirit of Yorkshire. And yes, it will be interesting to see if the laws about producing English whisky or single malt change and how. I think it makes sense to follow Scotch to a degree, although hopefully we won't see the kind of innovation happening at Spirit of Yorkshire outlawed. One thing that I am very hopeful of is a ban on caramel colouring. And perhaps a ban on chilling whisky before filtration. Not that those practices seem particularly common with English whisky... but I feel this is our chance to show the Scots how it's done 😉
That's interesting. Why don't you like Pressed Cork stoppers? *Natural Cork stoppers* , cut directly from the bark come in various quality grades. They are used because they "look the Bizz". Amongst those who use natural cork, the Scotch Whisky industry tends to use the lower quality natural cork which has holes in them, that when exposed to whisky over a long period of time, might rot the inside and cause the cork to break off. There is also a chance of cork contamination from bits of cork falling into the whisky. This should not be confused with the term "corked" which is caused by a contaminated cork where bacteria had been allowed to grow, usually in the splits and holes of the cork. It contaminates the whisky causing cardboard stale off notes. *Pressed Cork and Resin stoppers* are preferred by most of the industry. It is made of ground up powdered natural cork mixed with glue resin and moulded under high pressure. It still looks good but has the advantage of being less prone to contamination due to there being no holes. However, there are different grades of Pressed Cork as well and using lower grades can also lead to cracks and the corks disintegrating and snapping off after a few years. The corks are however sanitized and don't tend to cause bacteria "corked" damage. *Synthetic (plastic) stoppers* There is actually a third option which quite a few World Whisky distilleries use, including my local Israeli Milk and Honey distillery. This is a Synthetic (plastic) stoppers. It has the advantage of maximum sealing efficiency and lasts for decades without loss of integrity. The problem is that it looks cheap and gives a negative impression to a premium luxury product such as wine or whisky, where punters expect to see a cork stopper. There are also Hybrid corks where they will incorporate Pressed Cork and a natural cork glued to the bottom of the cork, where it touches the whisky. There are also Hybrid Synthetic corks. My personal choice is a high grade Pressed Cork. I am interested as to why you don't like them?
Hi Reb. It's mainly down to my experience. The majority of cork failures that I've had (and it's a very low percentage to be fair) have been composites. Including one very recently which was a Navy Strength rum that snapped the second time I opened it. You are right that the solid natural cork stoppers aren't perfect either. I've had some go worryingly mushy where they've likely been stored poorly before purchase and I've had multiple bottles of corked whisky (although not for a few years now) *cough* Highland Park *cough cough*... My opinion is that while natural cork is nice and synthetic corks may be unproven when it comes to sealing a bottle of whisky over say... 10, 20 or even 50 years. It's time to try something new. Japanese whisky has been using well designed and effective screw tops for years now, Ballantines had a very nice compression seal screw top for a while but seem to have gone back to the standard crappy version. And lots of rum producers are using excellent synthetic corks. It's time for Scotch to stop being so sentimental about using closures which simply cause problems. From how stubborn they are to stop using e150a though it will likely be a long and difficult transition...
@@WhiskyLock If we ever meet in person it will be a very boring conversation. I agree, yes, I also agree, yes, I concur, yes, I also think like that....😴😴 🤣😂🤣😂.
Yes, I didn't really find it a problem but with pretty much all of these new distillery releases I noticed a significant improvement with a bit of airing. Undoubtedly related to the young age. Giving a new bottle time to open up is probably the #1 whisky hack that more people should know about! Cheers John 🥃
It's great that you are reviewing these whiskies because I've been somewhat reactionary with my enthusiasm towards them and trying them. I don't know why that is but I suspect I'm put off by the price/age combination. I'm fond of Bimber, Ardnamurchan and Torabhaig so I know they can be very good. By the way, have you had a chance to try the Ardnamurchan Sherry cask release yet?
Thanks WT. It's true that a lot of these new releases are pricey. There are gems to be found for those that take a punt though. Like the three that you mention. I have a bottle of the Ardnamurchan Sherry Cask waiting for me as we speak actually (we have GWhisky to thank/blame for that purchase 😉). I shall probably give it a go this weekend.
Yeah price is always an issue with these new distilleries. It'll be interesting to see what this wave of new companies do in 10-15yrs time. Whether they'll eventually lower prices or keep the prices the same until the age / maturity matches it. I have a feeling it will mainly be the latter. No point in small companies competing at the Johnny Walker Black Label price point... but we shall see!
Valid point. I'm seeing this for sale for £50-55 at the moment. Which if you compare to most NAS whisky is at least £15 too much. IMHO it is better than most NAS whisky... but £15-20 better? Not really. I think it all comes down to how much you value getting to try a new whisky from a new distillery. I really enjoy seeing the direction new distilleries have chosen. There's also the element of supporting new distilleries who are giving us craft presentations, mostly good ABV, NCF and transparency that many established distilleries don't want to offer. But yes, for those looking for the best flavour per £/$/€ and nothing else then most new distilleries are best avoided.
£50 at Master of Malt. Although obviously they don't ship everywhere.. You raise another good point though... I hate it when buying direct from a distillery costs more than going through a middle man. I *want* to support the distillery but that puts me off. It shouldn't cost us more to allow the producers to keep all the profits. And this isn't just a problem with Spirit of Yorkshire. It's the case with many distilleries sadly.
Nice Shane, this one sounds very promising. Kudos Spirit of Yorkshire for not relying on STR casks even though they're students of Dr. Jim Swan. I would love if distilleries especially the new ones give a 3cl sample of their new makes when you purchase a bottle, just to see where the spirit comes from. Maybe one day :)
Yes I really got on well with it. Probably partly down to the lack of STR as you mentioned 😉
I'd love to try the New Make from Spirit of Yorkshire. I think it'd be great. And I'd love it if New Make were more available across the board (like Cotswold's White Pheasant). Probably not that many people would be interested... but for people like us it would be wonderful.
You know, the more of your reviews I watch, the more I'm enjoying and appreciating your review style. You are quickly becoming one of my favourite whisky reviewers for your accuracy of information and presentation.
Kilchoman distillery uploaded an excellent RUclips video for their 100% Islay release (I believe it was their 6th edition?) where they took you through the entire whisky process. It was a really good introduction to whisky making in general.
I just found it.. it was uploaded in 2014 and called "Kilchoman Distillery 100% Islay". Well worth a watch.
There is a video uploaded by "Spirit of Yorkshire Distillery" entitled "Spirit of Yorkshire Filey Bay Field to Bottle Film" where they actually show this extra piece of equipment. (Jump to 0:30). It sure does look like a copper column still but on the site they describe the the spirit still as being "a hybrid with a four-plate rectifying copper column". I'm not sure whether it can be technically considered a column still or whether it's considered part of the condenser but with rectifying plates, similar to some variation of Lomond still. It's not as if they aren't using two copper pot stills, there is a just an extra process after the double pot still distillation. Is the spirit actually being re-distilled in this column? What do you think?
Regarding English Whisky and regulations. Currently, as I understand, there is a group of some 20 plus English Whisky distillers who are in discussions to ratify the legal definition. The general subject of discussion is between those who wish to keep as close to the UK government backed Scotch Whisky Association regulations and those who want more flexibility to experiment without limitations.
Particularly, there is a dispute as to how to define the term "Single Malt English Whisky".
The SWA Regulations specify that Single Scotch Malt Whisky must be matured exclusively in copper pot stills. Even if the barley used was 100% malted barley, but matured in column stills, it will be legally defined as "Grain Scotch Whisky". However, the regulations also specify that, although other pieces of equipment such as the condensers, can be made of any type metal, the pot stills must be made of copper. There are in fact a few English distilleries whose pot stills are made of stainless steel! This would, under SWA regulations make it Grain Whisky as well, even though they are in fact pot stills! However, as I understand it, there is general consensus that if column stills have been used during the production of whisky in England, then they cannot called it "Malt English Whisky". As I said, all this needs to be ratified and currently, they could call their whisky anything they wanted to, besides using the word "Scotch", that is.
Thank you very much Reb!
I will check out your Kilchoman video. I'm particularly interested because I was there in 2014 👍
It is very interesting what they're doing at Spirit of Yorkshire and I hope any rule changes don't cause issues for them or discourage such things because what they're doing obviously works well. Is it redistillation? Obviously a large grey area. Technically all reflux is a type of redistillation so I'd say yes but we're almost getting into semantics there in a less than useful way 🙂...
Yes I believe they're calling it the English Whisky Guild. Exciting and promising... but also concerning that they'll cock it all up 😂 Unsurprisingly the one thing I'd love them to do is just outright ban e150 and intentionally chilling before filtration. That would make me unreasonably happy... and smug 😉... if we could knock that on the head when the SWA have resisted it for so long.
As for stuff like the definition of English Single Malt... the existing SWR2009 classifications, while familiar at this point, could be better. You've already highlighted some worthwhile innovations that aren't currently allowed for Scotch. The thing I'd really appreciate them giving some attention to is grain whisky though. Currently as soon as you use a different mashbill or a continuous still your product gets lumped into 'the crap category' that is Single Grain. Aka the stuff that makes cheap blends bad! Or that's what a lot of people hear when someone says Single Grain anyway.
IMHO something like the mixed mashbill, pot still single grains from English Whisky Company or Inchdairnie's Ryelaw don't belong in the same category as Haig Club. It's putting a lot of people off and is the reason why people generally aren't buying or even trying these interesting spirits. I don't know what, but some new classification or change in the rules could open up a lot of possibilities for these very interesting whiskies that are currently underappreciated.
I'm also wary that they'll be too ambitious though. There's a good argument for mostly copying the Scotch rules because if you run two parallel sets of regulations then people will get confused and lose interest. It's already hard enough for most people to get their head around what a single malt is... I've lost count of the number of people who have suggested that it's whisky made from a single type of barley... 🤷♂️ 😂
@@WhiskyLock I like the way you think. BTW, In a recent video, Ralfy mentioned that there was a Distillery (I think he was talking about an English one), that uses stainless still pot stills but they are lined with copper inside! Now, which video did he mention that?
I wonder how that fits into the regulations?
As A Lancastrian I loved your introductory remarks!. Filey Bay is a lovely Strand.
I've never been but it's on my list. Cheers 🙂
Flavor, character, and interesting. Excellent my friend.
Cheers 🥃
sounds like there making there whisky the right way had great time on there whisky tour good times ahead for Filey Bay and english whisky
Yes very exciting times for English Whisky with multiple distilleries doing a great job. I haven't done the tour at Spirit of Yorkshire yet but its high on my list.
Excellent review! We had a chance to meet co-founder David Thompson, and his passion for the craft and his distillery really shows through when you see him speak.
Love this bottle as well - it's a great example of how ex-bourbon, unpeated whisky can be done well. Lots of character, and when our bottle was down near the bottom, it turned into a total peach bomb. Cheers!
Agreed. Unpeated ex-bourbon is one of my favourites that I rarely get tired of. Great early offering from Spirit of Yorkshire.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Shane.
Interesting and informative as usual.
Slàinte mhath
Cheers buddy 🥃
Shane, great review. I have a bottle of Flagship and I'm very impressed with it. I thought it had a similar flavor profile to Aultmore, maybe a NAS Aultmore. Cheers keep those reviews coming.
That's a great point. I agree that it has a real Aultmore vibe. I tried some samples from Aultmore after their last rebrand and liked them for many of the same reasons I like Filey Bay. Cheers 🥃
Great review & interesting start of a definition for English single malt & indeed questions about SWE vs EWD differences in defining English Whisky for the first time...I'm in love with this distillery & high standards they have, and also the care for blending good casks together so far...I enjoyed everything from them i tried last year in a show here, and looking forward to get (with a help of a UK friend) if possible this year's Yorkshire day as it has some Madeira casks involved (I'm a sucker for that) that I'll not be able to get here...Agree also about their very special process & style with this unique combination of stills, making things exciting already profile wise & potentially for the future with older expressions, and when I see all the new English distilleries popping in, I think the future is bright for them ! Cheers !
Ah those Madeira casks. I love Madeira too.
Very interesting and encouraging things going on at Spirit of Yorkshire. And yes, it will be interesting to see if the laws about producing English whisky or single malt change and how. I think it makes sense to follow Scotch to a degree, although hopefully we won't see the kind of innovation happening at Spirit of Yorkshire outlawed.
One thing that I am very hopeful of is a ban on caramel colouring. And perhaps a ban on chilling whisky before filtration. Not that those practices seem particularly common with English whisky... but I feel this is our chance to show the Scots how it's done 😉
That's interesting. Why don't you like Pressed Cork stoppers?
*Natural Cork stoppers* , cut directly from the bark come in various quality grades.
They are used because they "look the Bizz".
Amongst those who use natural cork, the Scotch Whisky industry tends to use the lower quality natural cork which has holes in them, that when exposed to whisky over a long period of time, might rot the inside and cause the cork to break off. There is also a chance of cork contamination from bits of cork falling into the whisky. This should not be confused with the term "corked" which is caused by a contaminated cork where bacteria had been allowed to grow, usually in the splits and holes of the cork. It contaminates the whisky causing cardboard stale off notes.
*Pressed Cork and Resin stoppers* are preferred by most of the industry. It is made of ground up powdered natural cork mixed with glue resin and moulded under high pressure. It still looks good but has the advantage of being less prone to contamination due to there being no holes.
However, there are different grades of Pressed Cork as well and using lower grades can also lead to cracks and the corks disintegrating and snapping off after a few years. The corks are however sanitized and don't tend to cause bacteria "corked" damage.
*Synthetic (plastic) stoppers* There is actually a third option which quite a few World Whisky distilleries use, including my local Israeli Milk and Honey distillery. This is a Synthetic (plastic) stoppers. It has the advantage of maximum sealing efficiency and lasts for decades without loss of integrity. The problem is that it looks cheap and gives a negative impression to a premium luxury product such as wine or whisky, where punters expect to see a cork stopper.
There are also Hybrid corks where they will incorporate Pressed Cork and a natural cork glued to the bottom of the cork, where it touches the whisky. There are also Hybrid Synthetic corks.
My personal choice is a high grade Pressed Cork. I am interested as to why you don't like them?
Hi Reb. It's mainly down to my experience. The majority of cork failures that I've had (and it's a very low percentage to be fair) have been composites. Including one very recently which was a Navy Strength rum that snapped the second time I opened it.
You are right that the solid natural cork stoppers aren't perfect either. I've had some go worryingly mushy where they've likely been stored poorly before purchase and I've had multiple bottles of corked whisky (although not for a few years now) *cough* Highland Park *cough cough*...
My opinion is that while natural cork is nice and synthetic corks may be unproven when it comes to sealing a bottle of whisky over say... 10, 20 or even 50 years. It's time to try something new. Japanese whisky has been using well designed and effective screw tops for years now, Ballantines had a very nice compression seal screw top for a while but seem to have gone back to the standard crappy version. And lots of rum producers are using excellent synthetic corks. It's time for Scotch to stop being so sentimental about using closures which simply cause problems.
From how stubborn they are to stop using e150a though it will likely be a long and difficult transition...
@@WhiskyLock If we ever meet in person it will be a very boring conversation. I agree, yes, I also agree, yes, I concur, yes, I also think like that....😴😴 🤣😂🤣😂.
@@RebMordechaiReviews 😂
I found the neck pours challenging but with time some improvement albeit youthful.
Cheers 🥃
Yes, I didn't really find it a problem but with pretty much all of these new distillery releases I noticed a significant improvement with a bit of airing. Undoubtedly related to the young age.
Giving a new bottle time to open up is probably the #1 whisky hack that more people should know about! Cheers John 🥃
It's great that you are reviewing these whiskies because I've been somewhat reactionary with my enthusiasm towards them and trying them. I don't know why that is but I suspect I'm put off by the price/age combination. I'm fond of Bimber, Ardnamurchan and Torabhaig so I know they can be very good. By the way, have you had a chance to try the Ardnamurchan Sherry cask release yet?
Thanks WT. It's true that a lot of these new releases are pricey. There are gems to be found for those that take a punt though. Like the three that you mention.
I have a bottle of the Ardnamurchan Sherry Cask waiting for me as we speak actually (we have GWhisky to thank/blame for that purchase 😉). I shall probably give it a go this weekend.
Do you join the conversation at any live chats like Roy's Aqvavitae vPub? Maybe under a different name perhaps?
😂 honestly no I didn't. What was it? I was busy last night and only managed to catch the second half of the quiz sadly.
The symbol on the bottle is a Gannet
Your bird silhouette identification game is strong 😂 Seriously though, thanks for the info 👍
Sounds good but not sure I’d want to splash £50 for it 😊
Yeah price is always an issue with these new distilleries. It'll be interesting to see what this wave of new companies do in 10-15yrs time. Whether they'll eventually lower prices or keep the prices the same until the age / maturity matches it. I have a feeling it will mainly be the latter. No point in small companies competing at the Johnny Walker Black Label price point... but we shall see!
Too expensive for a very young whisky!
Valid point. I'm seeing this for sale for £50-55 at the moment. Which if you compare to most NAS whisky is at least £15 too much. IMHO it is better than most NAS whisky... but £15-20 better? Not really.
I think it all comes down to how much you value getting to try a new whisky from a new distillery. I really enjoy seeing the direction new distilleries have chosen. There's also the element of supporting new distilleries who are giving us craft presentations, mostly good ABV, NCF and transparency that many established distilleries don't want to offer.
But yes, for those looking for the best flavour per £/$/€ and nothing else then most new distilleries are best avoided.
@@WhiskyLock 60 GBP on their website. Other expression higher. May be worth trying at 50 GBP. $70 online in the US.
£50 at Master of Malt. Although obviously they don't ship everywhere..
You raise another good point though... I hate it when buying direct from a distillery costs more than going through a middle man. I *want* to support the distillery but that puts me off. It shouldn't cost us more to allow the producers to keep all the profits.
And this isn't just a problem with Spirit of Yorkshire. It's the case with many distilleries sadly.