The Spirit of Yorkshire

The Whisky from Spirit of Yorkshire is named after the nearby Filey Bay. The distillery in the county of North Yorkshire produces according to the ‘farm-to-bottle’ principle. The neighbouring farm grows its own barley, the processing of which can be traced exactly and which is also used for the craft beer of the local Wold Top Brewery. Spirit of Yorkshire draws its water from deep boreholes directly below the farm.

The English distillery's flagship product is the Filey Bay Flagship. The Whisky, which is around four years old, is matured exclusively in Bourbon casks and, like all Spirit of Yorkshire Single Malts, is neither chill-filtered nor coloured. For each bottling of the Flagship, a maximum of 20 to 25 per cent is taken from a base blend, which has been produced since 2016, and topped up with a spirit that is at least four years old. This means that the youngest Whisky in this Single Malt is at least four years old.

Another bottling is the Filey Bay Moscatel, which first matured in ex- Bourbon casks before being finished in casks that had previously been filled with Moscatel wine for 10 years.

After maturing in Bourbon casks, the Filey Bay STR is transferred to reconditioned casks. The abbreviation STR stands for ‘shaved, toasted, re-charred’. In this process, old red wine barrels are scraped to remove the inner charcoal layer. They are then toasted, i.e. heated to over 150°C, which breaks down the cellulose in the wood into wood sugar. This creates the brown colour and caramel-like flavour. The cask is then flamed again to form a layer of charcoal, which filters the pungent components out of the Whisky.

Spirit of Yorkshire is particularly proud of the fact that all the ingredients for the Single Malt are sourced locally from Yorkshire. For this reason, the words ‘Proudly made of Yorkshire’ can also be found on the bottom of the bottle. The entire production process therefore not only takes place in Yorkshire, but also comes entirely from the distillery's immediate surroundings. The local roots can also be seen in the rest of the bottle design. The lower half of the bottle features a wave shape that symbolises Filey Bay. The gannet was chosen as the logo. Large flocks of this seabird can be observed here and are therefore very well suited as a symbol bird for the distillery.

Spirit of Yorkshire distils on two of the largest Forsyth pot stills in the United Kingdom outside Scotland. A copper column still with four plates is also integrated into the distilling process. This allows two distillation methods to be combined. The founders were assisted in setting up the distillery by Whisky expert Dr Jim Swan, who passed away in 2017.

The distillery grows the barley for its Single Malt on an 800-hectare farm, which has been operated on Hunmanby Grange since 1945. In 2003, farmer Tom Mellor and his wife Gill founded the Wold Top Brewery on the site and found a new way to process their own barley. The close relationships with the local maltings are also an advantage for Spirit of Yorkshire, as they can guarantee the origin of every single malt grain for their Single Malt from their own farm.

Maturation initially takes place in Bourbon barrels. The light, sweet and fruity house style is given an additional flavour profile through various finishes. For example, former sherry, red wine or Moscato casks are used. The Filey Bay Whiskies are matured on site. According to the ‘farm-to-bottle’ principle, bottling also takes place at the distillery.

Opening a Whisky distillery was a logical step for friends Tom Mellor, farmer and founder of Wold Top Brewery, and his business partner David Thomson. Barley was already being grown on their own farm, water was also available and they were already brewing their own beer.

Supported by the expertise of Dr Jim Swan, production began in 2016 and the first barrels were filled. The official opening took place on 17 April 2017 and the first release of Filey Bay Whisky was launched on the market in autumn 2019.

The distillery offers various tours that can be booked online. In addition to the distillery tours, Spirit of Yorkshire regularly organises distillery sessions in their pot still coffee shop. Guests can enjoy Filey Bay Whiskies, beer from Wold Top Brewery and good food while listening to live music.