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Yorkshire's First Malt Whisky Distillery Invited To Select A Cask For Booths' Anniversary Bottling

Jenni Ashwood and Joe Clark from Spirit of Yorkshire Distillery with the Booths anniversary whisky.

The team at Yorkshire's first single malt whisky distillery has bottled a rare single cask whisky in response to a request from premium independent grocers, Booths.

Spirit of Yorkshire Distillery, home to Filey Bay single malt whisky, was invited to select and bottle a single cask whisky to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the fifth generation family grocers.

Cask#175 was one of only three Pedro Ximenez (‘PX') Spanish sherry butts that were filled in the Hunmanby distillery's first year of production in 2016, making it one of the oldest Filey Bay releases to date. Having spent hours in the warehouse nosing and tasting cask samples, Whisky Director, Joe Clark concluded that Cask#175 was not only fitting, but also answered Booths' brief for a very special whisky.

Spirit of Yorkshire co-founder, David Thompson, said: "2022 marks 175 years since 19 year old Edwin Booth secured an £80 loan to open his first shop, The China House in Blackpool. Booths have been a great supporter of the distillery since we started running the stills in 2016 and we were honoured to be asked to select a cask for a whisky to mark this special occasion."

"Cask #175 represents our PX matured whisky in its absolutely purest form. It is a delightful whisky that is rich and fruity with flavours of honeycomb, chocolate, toffee and dried fruits."

Only 521 70cl bottles of the 62.5% Filey Bay Single Cask Booths 175th Anniversary Edition were available and its launch, exclusive to Booths stores, was eagerly anticipated, with queues forming outside stores and 60% of stock selling out within two days.

Booths Wine and Spirits Buyer, Pete Newton is delighted with the release: "We have followed Filey Bay's journey from a maturing malt to a world class whisky with interest and were delighted that the team at Spirit of Yorkshire were able to bottle a rare and exclusive whisky for our landmark celebration.

"Booths is committed to sustainable agriculture, and we love the fact that Spirit of Yorkshire is one of a handful of whisky distilleries worldwide that grow 100% of the barley used in its field to bottle whisky production and that our anniversary whisky is made from barley grown on co-founder Tom Mellor's farm in East Yorkshire."

Filey Bay Single Cask Booths 175th Anniversary Edition costs £90 and is available exclusively from Booths' 28 stores in the north of England.