Celebrating English Whisky with Richard Foster Show Notes
Notes and Reviews for Whiskey Ring Podcast Episode 211: Celebrating English Whisky with Richard Foster
First order of business: visit https://www.exploringenglishwhisky.co.uk/event/english-whisky-festival-2025/ and purchase your ticket to the English Whisky Festival! If you can’t make this year, sign up to learn when next year’s will be taking place.
Back to the show notes…
English whisky is rising. There’s no other way to describe it.
Since the first English whisky in the 21st century was distilled in 2003 (at Hicks and Healey in Cornwall), 60+ distilleries now produce or plan to produce whisky across England. It’s happening in the urban centers of London and Birmingham, in the stunningly beautiful Cotswolds, in the hills of York, and everywhere in between.
The English Whisky Company (EWC) is the official “first” English whisky, releasing theirs before the Hicks and Healey team (the latter waited until 2011). EWC is on its way to releasing a 20-year-old English whisky, something nobody thought possible 20 years ago. All because the Nelstrop family, wanting to distill some whisky for themselves, ran up against a now-removed HMRC rule that distilleries could only open if the still was 800L or larger. Rather than abandon the dream, they said the hell with it and built a commercial distillery.
Some distilleries, like Cotswolds, The Lakes, and EWC are big and growing bigger, exporting to the US, Europe, and other major markets. Others are putting down just a few casks a year. Some are passion projects exploring the local terrain (see Retribution Distilling in Somerset hand cutting local English peat) and some are using old-school methods like wood-fueled direct fire stills (see Ludlow Distillery in Shropshire).
The most amazing thing? People in England don’t know that English whisky is a thing, let alone many people around the world. The expectation is either “of course there’s whisky made there, being so close to Scotland and Ireland and Wales,” or “why would they make whisky when you’re so close to those same countries?”
A GI (Geographic Indication) is in process, which rankled the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) for let’s be honest, no good reason other than insecurity or sheer distaste for their English neighbors. It’s worth a dive into the disagreement - many of the same terms the English Whisky Guild proposed mirror those of Wales and the US American Single Malt designation, yet neither of those received as much as a peep from the SWA.
If anything defines English whisky, it’s variety. They’re using woods beyond oak, such as chestnut and cherry. Some make their own mash, some buy it from partner breweries (made to their specifications). There’s peated, unpeated, and smoked. There are tiny, shed-sized producers and relative giants that would be dwarfed my many “small” Scotch distilleries. As Richard and I discuss, maybe that’s the most exciting thing: while not completely a Wild West, aside from the 3-year minimum age statement required by UK law, the spread is truly impressive.
Richard’s role in all this? He’s like me, like us, a whisky nerd who discovered a love and went down the rabbit hole. He started running tastings, moved virtual during COVID, started the English Whisky Festival (now in its third or fifth year depending if you count the two online years), and began what he semi-jokingly referred to as a burgeoning SMWS of English whisky. He’s ambitious and aspirational, and the love shows through.
If you join the Exploring English Whisky club, you may have access to cask shares, single barrels, and tastings. Attending the English Whisky Festival, usually in November, puts you in front of the people making English whisky what it is. Keep in mind, many of these outfits are so small that there’s no brand ambassador or PR firm, just a distiller, owner, operator, and janitor wrapped into a single person.
In 2025, 35 of the ~60 distilleries in England are attending. That’s insane. They’ll be bringing their core ranges (if applicable), special releases, whisky-in-the-making (under three years old or otherwise not ready) and who knows what else.
Richard isn’t driving English whisky in any particular direction - he’s quick to note he’s still a fan at heart, having nothing to do with the industry side of things or legal issues like the GI fight. For him, it’s about giving a platform and due attention to producers making damn good and damn interesting whisky. From this interview alone, I’m now looking to talk to a dozen distilleries after already talking to a half-dozen English distilleries over the years.
Only passion can make someone want to learn more. English whisky can have no better advocate than a superfan like Richard, and it was a pleasure to speak with him.
Thank you to Richard for entering the Whiskey Ring!
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Exploring English Whisky
10 | Insurpassable | Nothing Else Comes Close
9 | Incredible | Extraordinary
8 | Excellent | Exceptional
7 | Great | Well above average
6 | Very Good | Better than average
5 | Good | Good, solid, ordinary
4 | Has promise but needs work
1-3 | Let’s have a conversation
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