Located in Penzance, Cornwall, since 2016, the Pocketful of Stones distillery was founded by friends with a wealth of experience. Collected in London after lives around the world, and gravitating around The Lukin pub they were each very familiar with the ins and outs of spirits; it became time to make some themselves.

Starting with gin, and moving onto whisky in 2018, they also release vodka, rum, cider brandy, absinthe and even age mezcal in from their base in Cornwall. Their whisky is distilled in their handmade still, Jackson, from wash made at local breweries.

While there are some single cask, single malt bottlings out there, most of what they’ve been selling so far is blended whisky, containing their Cornish spirit, all under the brand name of Hell’s Stone. The Mezcal cask edition we enjoyed spent a 9 month finishing period in those eponymous casks (presumably one they’d been ageing that imported agave spirit in) and was a blend comprised of their 3yo single malt and some 8yo Loch Lomond whisky (at 70:30 ratio of grain to malt)

Notes: fragrant nose with some brown sugar. After some time, agave earth and syrup appear, but it’s dry and buttery. Grain whisky and cereal notes noticeable with water.

Rather than write about the controversy around their rebrand-timed retreat from Oxford up to Yorkshire and current lack of distillery, let’s focus on the fantastic story of their grains.

In 1994, an archaeobiologist (whom the original founder of the Oxford-based iteration of the brand met some years after that) discovered around 200 fairly well preserved wheat & rye grains in the lower layers of some 14th-16th century thatched roofs. Over 15 years, he built up the meagre number of seeds he’d salvaged to farming levels that could sustain a whisky distillery. On top of the revived heritage grains, these farms also practice restorative sustainable techniques, mixing grains and plains in a field to reduce the impact that farming has on the land.

All of this combines into the whiskies that Fielden release, reflecting working with grains that haven’t been used in hundreds of years. Their whiskies feature mashbills of rye, barley and wheat and this expression in particular, their core, has been aged in a wide array of woods: virgin & refill American oak, plus Sauternes, Moscatel & Maderia casks. Lots of structured flavour complementing the already characterful spirit.

Notes: Bready & spicy. Sweet & grapey. Jammy berries & ginger beer. Some must and honeycomb.

For the team behind White Peak distillery, whisky was always the dream. Setting up shop in a 120 year old former wire works (hence the brand name), they’ve plenty of history to draw on. The twisted-wire glass bottles, the cork/neck label containing the old business’ latin motto, the cooling utility of the River Derwent.

The typical Wire Works character is another that is lightly peated. They use an 80:20 ratio of unpeated to peated malt, making use of English and Derbyshire barley where they can. The yeast they use is a blend of local brewers’ yeasts, and as they gradually fill their warehouse, there are plenty of experiments going on. The most recent (released just after the bottle featured here), adopts the cognac process of ‘small waters’ – bringing the whisky down to bottling strength with a weaker oak aged spirit, rather than water.

But this bottle, is from a set of casks that previously held port. That is always a wonderful prospect for a whisky, but it’s been taken one step further here. The casks used were from a late bottled vintage: they had aged their port contents for longer than usual, imparting even more of those delicious, rich fruit characteristics.

Notes: Finish has a good frazzle, bbq note. Red berries, grapefruit, meaty (pepperoni?), drying, peppery.