Distillery Feature - Ellers Farm - Whiskyside

Distillery Feature - Ellers Farm

Firstly, I'd like to wish you a warm welcome to the Inaugural 'Whiskyside Distillery Feature' journal. This platform will be used to shine a light on some (hopefully one day, all) of the English Whisky distilleries that our great nation has to offer.
Amongst these journals, you can expect to find insightful deep dives into the workings of the featured distillery, photos, spirit reviews and Q&As with members from the team including distillers and founders.

Our first distillery visit with journaling in mind, took my wife Charlotte and I into the rural farmland surrounding the historic city of York and a stones throw away from the historical Yorkshire village of Stamford Bridge.

We visited none other than Ellers Farm distillery. It's worth noting that this distillery has been carbon neutral from day one and want to become leaders in the spirit industry when it comes to sustainability.

Upon arriving at our destination, we were welcomed with the view of the very impressive sight that is, Ellers Farm Distillery. When looking into the farm from the road, you've got your distillery building on the right and the visitors centre on the left.

Ellers Farm Distillery Building Exterior

We were greeted by Liam, their head distiller who has plenty of years under his belt creating top quality spirits with 'The Lakes Distillery' and 'Masons Of Yorkshire'. We were quickly joined by Andy, their newly appointed On Trade Manager who I'd already followed on Instagram so it was nice to meet him in person.

We found ourselves in the main building on the farm and we were instantly blown away by the towering column stills that truly were a sight to behold! I'm no stranger to column still set ups, but these are certainly the biggest ones I've seen up to now.

Ellers Farm Distillery Column Stills

The spirit we first covered, was their 'Dutch Barn Orchard Vodka'. The name comes from original barn on the farm, which unfortunately had to be taken down, but the design has been preserved during the construction of the new distillery. The word 'Orchard' is used due to the 20 acres of apple trees that are currently being planted around the distillery. The vodka itself is made from British apples and a touch of potatoes.

When tasting the vodka, we instantly knew this spirit was of the highest quality. A clean, crisp, neutral vodka with an elevation of sweetness on the finish. The mouthfeel due to the potato adds an extra layer of depth. It's no surprise that this vodka won three awards at the Vodka Masters 2022.

We asked what was the reason behind their decision to make vodka from apples and here was the response:

''The idea first came to our owner Chris when at home in his garden he would see the apples from his apple tree on the floor of his garden, which were too many just to eat and give away. So instead of wasting them he decided he would make his own home brew cider which was a great use of the leftover apples but sadly they were not great for his waistline.

He then took the process one step further and decided to distil the cider to see what spirit would be like and he was pleasantly surprised with the outcome and from then on the idea of a vodka made from apples was born."

Next up, we were very lucky to be able to try a sample of their wash which has been specially created for them by none other than Theakstons Brewery. It's a porter in style and packed with chocolate and coffee notes.

One of my burning questions was how this partnership with Theakstons came about and this was my answer:

''Our Managing Director, Andy has been a long friend and acquaintance of the Theakston family meeting them way back in 2001 when he joined Scottish & Newcastle and the Theakston business was a part of the S&N business through buying Matthew Clark, who had purchased Theakston in 1984. However, we’re glad to say that the Theakston family led by Simon Theakston bought the business back in 2004''

Following that, we tried a fifteen week old sample of their new make spirit taken from an ex heaven hill bourbon cask. Those chocolate notes are still to be found along with a mouthful of fresh vanilla. When the early spirit tastes as good as this, it's safe to say it's going to be worth the wait to get to try it again after its three year slumber in the cask

Ellers Farm Distillery Pot Still

We also asked a few more whisky questions, like if whisky was always on this distilleries agenda:

''Whisky was always a part of the plan, but would have required another significant investment in order to produce the “beer wash” that is needed. This way we have been able to accelerate those plans with what we see as the prefect combination of hundreds of years of brewing excellence creating the very best “distillers beer”, and our state of the art equipment and distilling experience to produce a unique North Yorkshire, English whisky''

and what types of casks are being used for maturation?:

"We are filling our New Make in first fill Bourbon barrels, this is the current plan for all our new make, that way we have a consistent starting point for our maturation spirit. What we will then do is finish our Whisky in different types of cask to give us different expressions to release."

Ellers Farm Distillery Whisky Casks

 

 After our time on the distilling floor, we were taken across the yard to the very warm and welcoming visitors centre. We perched ourselves at the bar and were treated to samples of their full range of small batch spirits. These included:

  • Jorvik's Y-Gin
  • Sloe Gin
  • Scarlett's Cherry Liqueur
  • Flora's Elderflower and Elderberry Liqueur
  • Forte's Espresso Vodka

Ellers Farm Distillery bar

Keep updated for more info on the above as we'll hope to stock them soon along with the vodka and it's fair to say, they are all absolutely delicious. Ellers Farm is amongst a handful of distilleries who produce their own neutral grain spirit.

It's very exciting for me to have another exceptional distillery so close to me, but to have another distillery bolster the ranks of the ever growing English Whisky distilleries list is always going to make me happy!

What are your thoughts on the ever growing English Whisky landscape?

"We are really excited by the English Whisky world and how quickly it is growing, Not only that but the quality of the whiskies being produced is amazing and rightly so we are seeing English whisky winning more and more awards.

We believe that in the future English Whisky will be will be in homes, bars and restaurants worldwide."

What are your views on the English whisky guild? Are you a member or do you plan on becoming one?

"We have very recently joined the English Whisky Guild so can’t talk to how it operates. However what we would say is that we think that protecting the rapidly growing category of English whisky is essential but that it should not risk the creativity and innovation that will set us apart from the more traditional."

So that's that! The end of our journal. The first of many where we shine a light on different distilleries, their journeys, the people and of course... the liquid!

Discover the distillery for yourself here

If you've got any thoughts or questions, please drop them in the comments below.

Thank you for joining me on the Whiskyside of life.

Matt

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