Cotswolds Distillery fermenting nicely

Cotswold Distillery founder, Dan Szor was a hedge fund manager in London and a native New Yorker. He gave up city life for a more relaxed rural lifestyle with his wife and young daughter. After catching the distilling bug from visits to the island of Islay and purchasing whiskey from the Bruichladdich Distillery, he decided to set up his own business in the village of Stourton near Shipston-on Stour.   

The business produces English single malt whisky, Cotswolds Dry Gin and other premium small batch spirits and liqueurs. 

The distillery accessed the grants through Warwickshire Rural Growth Network and The University of Warwick Science Park.  Cotswold Distillery was granted £22,000 which it has used to purchase more fermentation vessels (whisky distillation equipment) and recruit a new apprentice distiller.

The grant has enabled the company to double the amount of fermentation vessels resulting in twice the amount of whisky production capacity. Dan Szor said: “The financial benefits have accelerated business growth all within Cotswolds Distillery’s first year of business and are making a huge difference. It will enable more spirit down in cask, increasing its stocks of ageing whisky so that more will be released in the future.”

Cotswolds Distillery is committed to ensure that all stages, from the growth of raw ingredients, to the malting, mashing and distilling take place in the Cotswolds. The barley it uses comes from farms very close by and its malt being hand-made is less than 50 miles from where it is based.