Whittaker's Distillery Ltd is a family business run from our home Harewell House Farm in the heart of Nidderdale in North Yorkshire. We are passionate about Yorkshire and where we live and about our amazing local produce which we are so proud to be part of.
The original distillery was an old 1950s pig shed which we converted into a distillery and is now where all the post production processes happen such as gin storage until it is ready to bottle, bottling, labelling and finished product storage.
In 2019, we completed our new purpose built distillery building. We decided to go down this route so we could welcome visitors to our distillery and also so we could start our Whisky production. We purchased completely new equipment - 1 x 500 litre Gin Still and 2 x 1,000 litre whisky stills, mash tun and fermenters all for whisky making. We laid our first barrel of whisky down in November 2019.
Our aim is to produce artisan small batch, handcrafted spirits which reflect the Yorkshire countryside in a bottle which is reflected in our now international award winning Original Gin. This is predominantly Juniper, Coriander and Angelica Root. Our signature botanicals are Bilberries (formerly known as Whortleberries) bring sharpness, complimenting the Juniper berries keeping the gin character intact. Hawthorne berries, which grow on the beautiful hardy trees and hedgerows throughout the countryside, bring background sweetness. Bog Myrtle grows on the stunning Yorkshire moors and has a spicy aroma and tastes both bitter and balsamic at the same time (rich like vanilla). Some breweries still use Bog Myrtle to produce sweet heather ale and in medieval times, it was used as an alternative to hops. We also use garden thyme which is picked fresh from our garden on the morning of the distillation which sits in the gin basket just above the still to keep the flavour subtle. Also added is fresh lemon peel. This gin has recently won yet another Gold Medal, this time at the World Gin Awards, in 2018 it won Best International Gin and a Double Gold Medal at the American Distilling Institute Awards and also won a silver IWSC back in 2016.
Most recently, our Barley Mow Vodka has won Best Varietal UK Vodka 2021 at the World Vodka Awards. This product is made from 100% Yorkshire Barley grown and malted in Yorkshire.