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English whisky factory opens as tourist attraction

20 August 2007

England's only malt whisky distillery, St George’s Distillery at Roudham, near Thetford, will open its doors to tourists from this week.

The English Whisky Company, which has been producing spirits at the site since October, will begin its first tour despite the fact that its first batch of whisky won't be ready for another two years.

The new £1million distillery building includes a cafe, conference room, tasting area and a shop selling more than 150 different whiskes and bourbons from all over the world.

Managing director Andrew Nelstrop said that he hoped success at St George’s, England's first registered malt whisky distillery in the last 110 years, would encourage more to revive the industry in the UK.

‘It will be a relief when we open…because it means that we won't have to be here seven days a week, but we will be more relieved in three weeks when we know if people want to come here,’ he said.

‘Fifty thousand visitors a year would be ideal and we have had a lot of phone calls and people coming in the gate before we opened, but we have absolutely no idea how popular it will be at the moment.’

He explained that tourism would be the distillery’s main source of income in the first three to five years while the whisky is aged to perfection. Although production is well under way, whisky needs time to mature and the first will not be ready until Christmas 2009 at the earliest.

 
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