Top 10 Distilleries in England
England's distillery scene has undergone a transformation since the 2010s that few observers predicted. At the start of that decade, there were perhaps a handful of commercial distilleries operating in England outside the established Scotch and Irish traditions. By the mid-2020s, the country has hundreds of operational distilleries — producing gin primarily, but also English whisky, rum, brandy, and a remarkable range of experimental spirits. The growth has been concentrated in cities (London now has more operational distilleries than at almost any point in its history since the Gin Craze of the early eighteenth century) but extends into rural counties where distillers are exploiting local grain, water, and botanical resources.
English single malt whisky, which has its own growing regulatory framework, is produced at a small but increasing number of sites from Norfolk to the West Country, and the quality of the early releases has been sufficient to attract serious international attention. Find distilleries across England on the map, from the banks of the Thames to the Cotswold hills and the northern moorlands.
1. The English Whisky Company (St. George's Distillery), Roudham, Norfolk
St. George's Distillery in Norfolk was the first distillery to legally produce whisky in England in modern times, reopening what was a dormant category when it began production in 2006. Founded by James and Andrew Nelstrop on their arable farm near Roudham, the distillery uses Norfolk-grown barley malted at a local maltings, spring water from the estate, and both peated and unpeated production runs. The whisky matures relatively quickly in the warm, dry Norfolk warehouse environment, and releases from the distillery — sold under the English Whisky Co. label — have proven that English terroir can produce whisky of genuine merit. The visitor centre is well-established and receives thousands of visitors annually.
2. Cotswolds Distillery, Stourton, Warwickshire
Cotswolds Distillery, founded in 2014 by Dan Szor, is now one of England's largest and most commercially successful craft spirits producers. The distillery is located in the village of Stourton in the Cotswolds and uses locally grown and floor-malted barley, Cotswold spring water, and a range of cask types — ex-bourbon, ex-STR wine casks, and ex-sherry — to produce single malt whisky and single malt gin. The Cotswolds Single Malt has been particularly well received, showing a fruit-forward, approachable style that has found a substantial domestic and export market. The distillery also produces a notable dry gin using Cotswold lavender and other locally foraged botanicals.
3. Sipsmith Distillery, Chiswick, London
Sipsmith was the first copper pot still gin distillery to open in London since the early nineteenth century, receiving its distillery licence in 2009 after a protracted battle with regulations that had effectively prohibited small-scale gin production. Founded by Fairfax Hall, Sam Galsworthy, and master distiller Jared Brown, Sipsmith is now owned by Beam Suntory but continues to produce at the Chiswick facility. The distillery's flagship London Dry Gin is produced in named copper pot stills (Prudence, Patience, and Constance) and has become a benchmark for the contemporary London Dry style — juniper-forward, citrus-accented, with botanical depth that suits both traditional G&T service and cocktail use. The visitor experience is popular and can be booked in advance.
4. Chase Distillery, Hereford, Herefordshire
Chase is a farm distillery established in 2008 by William Chase, a potato farmer who decided that distilling his own crop made more economic sense than selling commodity potatoes. The distillery produces Chase Vodka — made entirely from estate-grown potatoes — as well as a range of gins, apple brandy, and eau de vie from the orchard fruit grown on the Hertfordshire farm. Chase is a genuine farm-to-bottle operation in a way that many producers claim but few achieve, and the link between specific varieties of potato and apple grown on the estate and the final spirit in the bottle is traceable and verifiable. The distillery is open to visitors throughout the year.
5. Bimber Distillery, Park Royal, London
Bimber is a London craft distillery founded by Dariusz Plazewski and producing single malt whisky using traditional Scottish methods applied to a London context. The distillery uses 100% floor-malted English heritage barley varieties, distils in copper pot stills, and matures spirit in small casks in its Park Royal warehouse. Despite being located in an industrial park in west London, Bimber has built a strong reputation for quality and consistency, with releases that have been reviewed favourably by major whisky publications. The distillery makes its cask selection process transparent and releases bottlings at cask strength and without chill filtration, attracting single cask whisky collectors.
6. Adnams Distillery, Southwold, Suffolk
Adnams is a coastal Suffolk brewery that established a distillery in 2010, becoming one of the first breweries in Britain to combine beer and spirits production at scale. The distillery uses the same East Anglian barley that goes into Adnams beer and applies it to the production of single malt whisky, gin, vodka, and absinthe. The brewing expertise of the Adnams team is visible in the quality of fermentation management applied to the distillery's washes, and the resulting spirits have a consistent house style characterised by clean grain, coastal mineral notes, and good aromatic clarity. Adnams is based in the charming seaside town of Southwold, making a distillery visit easily combinable with a coastal walk.
7. Spirit of Yorkshire Distillery, Hunmanby, North Yorkshire
Spirit of Yorkshire was established in 2016 on a barley farm in the Yorkshire Wolds by Tom Mellor and David Thompson. The distillery practices what it calls field-to-bottle production: the barley is grown on the Hunmanby Grange farm, malted at a nearby maltings, distilled on-site, and matured in a purpose-built warehouse on the estate. The flagship Filey Bay expression — named for the nearby bay on the North Sea coast — has been released in various forms including ex-bourbon, peated, and various wine cask finishes. The whisky shows the Yorkshire terroir clearly: rich, cereal-forward, and influenced by the maritime air that drifts in from the North Sea.
8. Penderyn Distillery (English Connections)
While Penderyn is primarily associated with Welsh whisky, its influence on the English craft spirits scene — through the technical consultants it has trained and the distillery culture it helped establish — deserves acknowledgment. England's current generation of whisky producers owes a significant debt to the pioneering work done by Welsh and English craft distillers who proved that commercially viable single malt whisky could be produced outside Scotland, and Penderyn's hybrid still design (which produces a light, fragrant spirit at high strength in a single pass) has been studied and adapted by several English producers looking for alternatives to the conventional Scotch two-pot still arrangement.
9. Salcombe Distilling Co., Salcombe, Devon
Salcombe Distilling is located in the coastal town of Salcombe in South Devon, in a harbour-front facility that combines production with a fully developed visitor experience. The distillery produces a range of gins, including the flagship Salcombe Gin Start Point (named for the Start Point lighthouse visible from the town) and the Voyager series, which uses botanicals sourced from around the world to reflect Salcombe's history as a Victorian citrus trading port. The coastal location infuses the distillery's identity and the gins themselves, which tend to show citrus and marine botanical character alongside juniper. Salcombe has become a significant draw for visitors to the South Devon coast.
10. Durham Distillery, Durham, County Durham
Durham Distillery, founded in 2014 and making it one of England's first wave of craft spirits producers, is located in the historic cathedral city of Durham and produces gin and whisky using water from the Wear catchment. The distillery's Durham Gin is a classic London Dry style that has found distribution across northeastern England and into the national market. Its whisky production, still young by any measure, is watched with interest by enthusiasts who want to see what a northern English single malt, made from Yorkshire and Durham barley in a cool northern climate, will develop into as stock ages. Durham represents the quiet, steady-progress end of English distilling: less flashy than some London producers, but committed to quality over the long term.