Spirit of Yorkshire are acutely aware of the need to look after the land that they farm on. After burning coal, the ploughing of fields is one of the biggest carbon emitters in the world. If humans stopped ploughing, it would have a huge effect on climate change, and at Spirit of Yorkshire distillery, they’ve done just that. All crops are planted via direct drilling, which means the soil is left undisturbed and the carbon stays where it should: in the ground. The naturally chalk rich soil provides natural drainage, which is ideal for growing barley. The team at Spirit of Yorkshire set about making their whisky in 2016, when friends David Thompson and Tom Mellor put their heads together to start the business. The distillery is located on the Hunmanby Estate (built in the 19th century) and has been in Tom’s family since 1945 (Tom is 3rd generation, his children Jenni and Kate 4th). The plan was to diversify the farm which had traditionally been a Yorkshire wolds arable farm growing barley, oil seed rape, wheat, potatoes, beans, and legumes. Because of the soil type, the farm specialised in malting barley. Previously, that barley would have been malted and sent up to Scotch distilleries. So the next step to start a brewery – Wold Top – in 2002, and then their whisky, was a natural move. The team invested in two of the largest Forsyth pot copper stills operating in the UK outside of Scotland, which were fired up for the first time in 2016. Their four-plate copper column works in tandem with the spirit still which adds to the uniqueness of the Spirit of Yorkshire distillery. So we set off on a “mystery trip”, now I’m not one for mystery trips so we set off and I was in a grumpy mood and was in pain. We turned on to the road to Hunmanby and I was definitely none the wiser. Just before we got there my darling wife asked me to close my eyes. We arrived on a small but tidy industrial estate and entered the distillery. I was still quite grumpy but my interest was starting to peak as I had never been on a distillery tour before. It was beautifully clean and well presented with a wonderful array of whisky’s for sale. We were signposted upstairs to the start of the tour.

The distillery is located just a short drive from the brand’s namesake and local beach Filey Bay which is visible from the distillery windows. This beautiful stretch of sand goes from the outcrop of Filey Brigg to the headland of Flamborough Head and is worth a visit. Fans of whisky will be delighted by a tour of the area, the Spirit of Yorkshire distillery, and of course an obligatory follow-up whisky tasting. The tour was eye opening and informative, the smells were heavenly, and then the pièce de résistance the tasting of the whisky’s. I had entered single malt heaven. We were given three to sample and were allowed to sample any others from the range on the “try before you buy” basis. So we did and then we did (buy that is).

The distillery has an array of ranges, with the core expression being the Flagship, and sits alongside a range of finished releases; Filey Bay’s Moscatel finish, which is soft, sweet and fruity with flavours of orange, honey, dried fruits and cocoa and Filey Bay’s STR Finish (the name stands for shaving, toasting and recharging which is what the team do to the casks before the whisky is matured in them). It’s light, floral and fruity with flavours of red fruits, vanilla ice cream and toasted oak. The one-hour distillery tours run 7 days a week three times a day (twice on Sundays), at 11am and 1pm and 3pm Monday – Saturday, 11am and 1pm on Sundays. For those looking for more detail, there’s a Distillery Tour and Deep Dive Tasting every Friday at 3pm, which finishes with a 5 dram flight, including one that’s very special indeed. Tours must be booked at least 12 hours in advance. Casks are sourced primarily from two distinct locations - France and America – and have been specifically chosen under our wood management programme to compliment the unique character of our new-make spirit. From France we have selected casks of Cognac, Armagnac and red wine (non-sulphured): some freshly-emptied for ripe red fruit flavours, with others hand-shaved and slowly re-toasted, imparting stewed fruit, caramel and cocoa notes. Well today was one of those days where I was feeling definitely not at one with myself and I was on annual leave to boot. My wife then waltzed in and said get your shoes on we’re going out. Our American casks come direct from our partner distillery, MB Roland, who produce flavourful non-chill filtered still-proof and barrel-proof bourbon that's causing quite a stir across the pond. We’ve selected casks of dark fired (smoked) bourbon, corn and rye whiskey, all with a heavy char.

Then there are the rarer, limited edition runs that the team work on, with the latest being their IPA finish, which as the name suggests, is matured in ex-IPA casks from Wold Top brewery. This has a unique apply, savoury flavour, and fans of rare whiskies should keep an eye out for it! Sustainability: looking after the land The second distillation run – the spirit run – sees the low wines slowly redistilled over 10 hours along with the previous heads and tails. The copper helps remove unwanted impurities, with the distillate collected in three stages, known as cuts: the heads, hearts and tails. The heads and tails are collected and recycled on the following spirit run, while the heart - a beautifully characterful clear malt spirit known as new-make (70-75% abv) – is set aside by our head distiller Abbie. Cover crops, such as radishes and other vegetables are planted on top of the soil to promote biodiversity and the natural habitat of wildlife. The area is full of skylarks and Filey Bay still has the biggest gannet population in the country, so this practice is clearly working.