Where it Started

Like all good stories, ours started with discovering a loophole in an archaic law, that prevented craft distilling. That’s where Dr John Walters comes in: a former Oxford scholar, with a background in biochemistry and the pharmaceutical industry, who was looking for a new challenge. ​After listening to a Radio 4 feature about French eau de vie, Dr John was left inspired to try his hand at distilling and set about defiantly setting up a four litre still for personal use, which launched him onto a new epicurean adventure.

Testing the Theory

Using his ingenuity, he picked some grapes off the side of his house, which he set about fermenting and distilling to produce his first spirit, a brandy, which was surprisingly much tastier than a nice bottle he had recently bought.

Encouraged by the results, he tried his hand at more spirits, being continuously delighted with the delicious outcome, soon enough he had an epiphany. Imagine if more spirits could be enjoyed neat, tasting this superb without the burning sensation?

The Starting Blocks

In John’s opinion everyone deserves the best, and so he set out to share his pioneering spirits with the world. So in 2011, English Spirit was officially born, when John opened Cambridgeshire’s first distillery at the Old Salt Depot in Dullingham. At the time there were only four small-batch distilleries within the UK, with the rules and regulations being a bit more relaxed: the interview with the HMRC officer to obtain the necessary licences to commercially produce was held in the car park, sat on deckchairs!