In 2014, the Scottish nation will vote on whether to become independent.  If they thought that part of the economic underpinning should be the great Scottish whisky industry, perhaps they should note and worry about some newcomers south of the border in England.

In Roudham in Norfolk, the English Distillery company started in 2006 with the first 29 barrels of English whisky at their St George’s Distillery and they have made some 2000 casks which are now distilling in their warehouses.  Their website states:

“Making really great single malt whisky in England is paramount to what we stand for here at St. George’s.

Why England?  Why not? We have fantastic water in the Breckland aquifer beneath our feet, we have the barley, the maltings, the yeast and now the distillery.

We don’t add colour, we don’t add flavour, we let the barrels do that for us.  Our whisky is batch made by hand with no computers, matured in fine casks, bottled on site using our own water and is non chill-filtered. We are really proud of these things and believe you will taste the difference too.”

Another newcomer to this ancient craft is Adnams of Southwold in Suffolk.  Founded in 1872, it is more famous for its beers but has now produced two whiskies using its own barley.  The whisky here was matured in virgin oak casks, which gives it a different flavour from most Scotch whiskies which are matured in older casks from bourbon.

Small local distilleries are becoming very popular in North America, for example in states such as Colorado.  Is this the start of a trend in the UK?