English whisky to debut in November

The first English single malt whisky for 100 years will be released at the end of November.

St George's Distillery started distilling in November 2006 but by European Law whisky must be matured in oak casks for three years before the word "whisky" can be used. The end of November 2009 will see the end of this three-year period of waiting for parent company the English Whisky Company.

The distillery produces two different whiskies. The first to be ready will be

its non-peated whisky, available in mid-December this year, and then its peated

variant will be launched in summer 2010, though pre-orders are already being taken. The spirit has reportedly been well-received by whisky critics. A half-mat-ured spirit ("not yet whisky") has been selling well in more than 10 countries around the world already.

"The launch of our first whisky is extremely important to the English Whisky Co and very exciting to the Nelstop family," said MD Andrew Nelstop. "While the whisky being released could still be considered young, we believe it to be a very well-presented whisky and various tastings of the upcoming whisky have been encouraging."

The English Whisky Co is the result of a lifetime ambition of its founder James Nelstop. His project was given the green light in November 2005, following which the building design was agreed and planning permission granted for a new distillery, warehousing, conference and visitor centres.

"The first distiller at St George's was the world renowned Iain Henderson of Laphroaig fame," said Nelstrop. "He got the distillery up and running and trained his successor David Fitt, who has continued the tradition of quality first — regardless!"

The Nelstrop family are the sole owners of the business with no outside investors.