Thanks a £million! Whisky fans back Derbyshire’s distillery
...AND DRINKS MAKER IS SET TO RELEASE ITS FIRST SINGLE MALT LATER THIS YEAR
AN award-winning Peak District whisky company has raised £1 million three years after beginning production.
White Peak Distillery has laid down 950 casks, which will fill more than 400,000 bottles, since it was launched and has been given numerous awards.
This includes best start-up at the 2019 Derby Telegraph Business Awards – and rave reviews from customers for its spirits and visitor experiences.
Despite being open for a number of years, the company has raised £1 million from a crowdfunding campaign which saw 660 investors put their money into expansion plans for the distillery.
The business was set up by Max and Claire Vaughan, who are looking forward to the release of its first single malt whisky in October this year.
It comes after an earlier spirit, which had been aged for 24 months before being bottled, sold out in just 24 hours.
The couple came up with the idea of making their own spirits in 2016 and the first full-scale craft whisky distillery in the Peak District region began production in April, 2018.
The crowd-funding campaign, which values the business at almost £13.5 million, has more than doubled its target of £500,000, and still has more than a week to run.
The money will be used to build sales in the UK and abroad, in a global market valued at $60 billion.
To support the growth, the distillery plans to add to its team and increase resources and expenditure on promotion, sales and marketing, and production.
The pair said they had received advanced assurance from HMRC that the shares issued will be eligible for tax relief through the Enterprise Investment Scheme.
Max Vaughan said: “The journey so far has been incredibly rewarding. We’ve come through many challenges, including in the last 12 months, but the whole team are really passionate about the business we’re building.
“We’ve invested a lot in the distillery itself and have a significant volume of maturing whisky stocks.
“We’re now ready for the next exciting phase of building whisky sales both here in the UK and overseas.
“To make the most of this opportunity and so we can accelerate our growth, we’ve decided to raise more funding.
“We’ve partnered with Crowdcube to offer people the chance to join us as a shareholder and the interest so far has been amazing.”
The distillery was built in the former Johnson & Nephew Wire Works in Ambergate, within The Derwent Valley Mills UNESCO World Heritage Site – an area that came to global prominence in the 18th Century as the heartland of the industrial revolution.
Creating the distillery involved regenerating Edwardian-era industrial buildings that had been empty for more than 20 years.
White Peak Distillery worked closely with Derbyshire-based Musk Engineering on the detailed design, engineering and installation.
Musk also fabricated the stainless steel vessels and equipment at the distillery, adding to its local provenance.
The whisky stills were handmade to the company’s design by traditional copper smiths in Scotland, and the company sources its oak barrels from around the world including Portugal and the USA.
In all, £1.4 million has been invested in plant equipment, and the distillery is operating at 50 per cent capacity – so has room to grow.
In their Crowdcube pitch the couple said: “We set out to question the way whisky was made, and create unique, authentic flavours.
“Yeast and fermentation are at the heart of great flavour in craft beer, but we think not enough in whisky.
“Yeast and fermentation are our focus. Our relentless pursuit of flavour is why we believe our whisky will be successful in a premium market where consumers value quality, authenticity and provenance.
“Our home in the former Wire Works sits in a World Heritage Site. The heart of the Industrial Revolution; entrepreneurs, innovators, things made the proper way. A legacy at our core.”