Distillery crafts new spirits
all part of our strong ‘cellar door’ programme.”
Szor’s “hedge fund to hedgerow” journey began five years ago when his sharp eye, honed as a New York-born financial derivatives expert working in London, spotted fields of ripening barley, one of whisky’s fundamentals, all around his Cotswolds retreat.
The self-styled whisky geek decided as no one had made the link so far between barley, the brown spirit and the Cotswolds, here was his golden opportunity.
The initially modest ambition to be the best craft distillery in the north Cotswolds evolved rapidly after starting production in 2014 with private backing.
However, with whisky needing to mature, so always a long game and a big challenge for smaller producers, it was gin, another craft favourite with a production time of weeks at most, that became the business’ backbone.
“We had no idea our gin, a side project, would explode in the way it has,” admits Szor.
“After almost four years we now sell in 35 countries and that allowed us to make a leap of faith and double our whisky production in 2016, preventing any future stock shortages. Our single malt went on sale late last year.”
Cotswolds remains a close knit operation with everything from production – including the hand peeling of thousands of limes and pink grapefruit to ensure the best mouth-feel for the gin – to bottling and sales handled in house by 40 staff. The gin and whisky is now stocked in nationwide.
“It’s a terrific vote of confidence in us and we get a lot of support,” says Szor.
“They share our ethos,” agrees Waitrose & Partners spirits buyer John Vine.
“How they interact with their local community is important to them and they aim to invest wherever they can.”
More new releases are planned for 2019. “This Christmas will be our biggest yet,” says Szor. “But taste our spirits at any time of the year, and you’ll know we never cut corners.”
lWaitrose stores
cotswoldsdistillery.com; waitrose. com