First the mark, then the malt

To Wiltshire, on the trail of English whisky. Witchmark Distillery hasn't yet released any, but it's already making a name for itself nonetheless. It feels oddly established, like it's part of the furniture.

Its visitor centre echoes this, adopting a design vernacular shared by many distilleries that I like to think of as National Trust Adjacent: neat, clean, solid, proper. Twin potted bays flanking the door. Lots of smooth exposed stone. Quietly expensive wooden joinery either varnished or painted in muted Farrow & Ball colours. Metal accents here and there, particularly copper to recall the stills you just traipsed past on the tour.

The look is completed by strategically placed soft furnishings picked out in colours that echo the overall theme. There may be leather too, but perhaps that's a touch more common in Scotland where they want to pull in a rugged "I just tramped through heather in the rain" vibe.

Standing among a hundred or so guests — mainly locals, smaller investors and staff gathered to celebrate the distillery's first anniversary — I listened to the founders and lead investors in celebratory and sometimes rather bombastic mood.

"I came down and met the three founders of the company: Jon, Alistair, and Eddie. I was very interested," said James Espey OBE. "I looked them in the eyes and saw they were going to make a serious commitment."

"English whisky's time is coming," said Peter Bauer. "We're right here, literally at ground zero of the leadership position."

"We went out to make the best distillery in the world, which would then make the best spirits in the world," said co-founder Alasdair 'Eddie' Large. "And we're doing it in that order."

Big talk.

Pudding time

Earlier that afternoon I tasted the new make — not fresh off the still but liquored down to 65% which is the strength they put into the casks. I also got to sample the spirit at around one year old, which is as old as they have for now, from both ex-bourbon and STR red wine casks. It's good. Very good.

The new make has some slight edges to knock off, but that's to be expected. That's why whisky is matured. Actually, for what it is, it's pretty smooth. I found notes of berries, grain, caramel and brown bread.

The pale-yellow bourbon-cask spirit (not yet whisky) is already softened to a surprising degree and all creamy vanilla with hints of dark berries and a nutty finish. It's good but still has work to do.

The STR cask stuff is deeper, almost nut brown already, and complex. Dried fruit, cherry, vinous, spiced... this will add real interest to the blends when Eddie builds the distillery's single malt. Apparently Chivas Regal master blender Colin Scott is signed on to advise.

So yes, when it comes to whisky I'm expecting big things when they release their first bottle, which is scheduled for 2027. But what about now?

White spirits

Like many new distilleries, Witchmark is selling vodka and gin while its whisky matures for its mandatory three years. There's a black lime gin with yuzu that's worth a taste if you see it (it won Gold at the 2025 Gin Masters competition) and a couple of others that are perfectly fine.

But the vodka. Bloody hell, the vodka.

I've tasted a lot of vodkas in my time as a spirits judge for the IWSC and other competitions. This vodka is among the best ever to pass my lips. It's silky smooth thanks in part to a fancy filter unit, one of only two in the world like it. But it's more than that.

Witchmark uses Laureate, a high-yielding spring malting barley grown right on the estate using regenerative agricultural methods. This is malted just 12 miles away at Warminster, where they use the traditional floor malting technique.

Back at the distillery they mill it, mash it, and ferment it all on site. They distil it and make their own neutral grain spirit, and they turn that into this delicious vodka that sits, or rather sips, just on the right side of characterful. It has notes that recall the barley where it all began and it is just... sublime.

"I said the vodka was the best vodka in the world when it came off the stills for the first time," Eddie Large told the gathered crowd later on. "According to the International Whisky Competition, it's in the top 10 of the 1,500 that were entered. It goes forward to further judging in November. So if I was a bit rash saying this is the best vodka in the world, we'll find out."

Head: turned

Witchmark is very much a whisky distillery. That's their whole deal. That's what they care about and where their focus is. So for them to also be making their own neutral spirit (a huge faff that only a handful of other British distillers bother with) and also knock out a vodka that's this good is seriously impressive.

"It's just an indication of the direction we're going with the whisky," Eddie said. "The spirit is that good. The guys who are putting it together are that good. The ingredients we're using and the process we're using are that good."

You get the point.

You can order a bottle for £41 and goggle at its gaggle of gold medals: one from the World Drinks Awards and one from the IWSC — that one a Gold Outstanding, which I can tell you is not handed out willy-nilly.

It's definitely worth a try while we ponder on what is to come from this distillery once we finally get to taste its whisky.

Witchmark has big plans. Just listen to Eddie: "We will take that lead position in the English whisky market."

Having tasted the spirits, that doesn't sound so far-fetched.