Help us make North East whisky history

Aim

Durham Distillers are moving home to produce the North East’s first single-malt whisky and we need your help to fully realise our vision.

We were the first craft distillery in the North East and will now be producing the regions first single malt! We are Durham Distillers and we’re moving our home to Durham city distillery in the heart of our wonderful city. You might already know some of our spirits, our signature Durham Gin, Cask Aged Gin, Sloe Gin and Vodka. Currently we produce everything by hand, locally and in small batches on Lily our 400L copper pot still, from our production facility in the beautiful Langley Park, on the outskirts of Durham. We also recently re-branded, making the choice to rename as Durham Distillers rather than Durham Distillery, to make sure our craft connoisseur skill is at the forefront of everything we do. 

2019 sees us take our next big step as an authentic spirit producer, our belief in quality and craft (and our gin recipe!) will always remain the same but in order to grow as a business we recognise the time is right for our next challenge. This one million pound project has already secured funding from a number of sources including private investors, various local grant schemes and an amazing £250,000 from the Finance Durham fund managed by Maven Capital Partners - making us the first business to benefit from the £20 million fund. Take a look and see how you can be involved! 

Put simply, we are thrilled to have secured planning permission for an amazing new distillery in the heart of the historic Durham city centre. Building contractors are already onsite, the majority of the kit is in production and we are currently on track to open before Autumn 2020.

The new site will boast full craft whisky operations, taking our whisky on a grain to glass journey. This means the purchase of a 0.5 tonne mash tun, four 3000L fermenters, and two bespoke handmade stills, enabling us to produce initially around 250,000 bottles of whisky per annum, with the possibility to expand this even further in the future. As well as sourcing our barley as locally (from just across the A1 at Durham) as possible our waste will also be used by one of the local colleges in Durham to feed livestock and fertilise the surrounding grounds, all in an attempt to maximise sustainable nature of the distillery.

In addition to being a functioning distillery this expansion will also enable us to open the doors to you the customer, giving you the opportunity to see the science behind the spirit. Offering a range of tours, tastings and events, the distillery will also feature a private event space available for hire, a bar and a customer shop (all of our packages include discounts from the tours and shop products). All of this means the Durham Distillers team will grow substantially, creating skilled jobs in the region from production, sales and marketing to retail and hospitality.

Whisky is the holy grail of the spirit world. As a distiller the scientific challenge lies in producing a great new make spirit, then the artistry comes in, selecting barrels, maturation periods and finally creating the perfect blend. The English whisky industry is in its infancy and unlike other areas has more freedom for creativity and innovation - as such this is a really exciting time to be taking this step and one of the first bottles produced could be yours!!

Private Reserve pack comes complete with certificate, postcards, information booklet, drinks coaster and our special distillery coin. 

*Please note for the investment certificate package you will receive a certificate which allow 10% off shop products and 25% off tours for one year. For our Private Reserve pack (Framwellgate, Elvet, Kingsgate and Prebends) all receive the above, your coin is the key so PLEASE hold on the this, you will need this to access you offers.  

Allowing you the unique opportunity to sample the spirit before and after maturation, all whisky packages come with our Private Reserve information pack, delivered Dec 2019. A 20cl bottle of new make spirit and 70cl bottle will come complete with a limited edition label signed by our Head Distiller and will be delivered 3-5 years time from distillery opening.

The river completes the city as an island, and in years gone by, made it a fortress; an independent medieval city state ruled by the Prince Bishop. The bridges are the ways into the city over the river, and any journey through Durham involves crossing them. In the same way that the bridges provide access to the city, our bridge packages offer a route for everyone to support the distillery and be part of creating something truly special in the heart of it.

This project successfully funded on 16th January 2020