Cotswolds Reserve
Small Batch English Single Malt | 50% ABV
Score: 6/10
Good stuff.
TL;DR
The liquid overcomes the memories
Corporate underpinnings can’t hold this down
There is something to be said about listening to your gut. Even if it is intangible and can’t be quantified, the feeling one gets from a certain place often speaks volumes about that place’s origins and ethos.
And so I was reminded of these thoughts when my wife and I recently toured The Cotswolds Distillery.
In the first week of October my wife and I travelled to England. We much prefer to steer clear of the usual tourist haunts, as we make our own treks to quieter places without large crowds or places familiar to every planning guide or travel brochure.
We landed at Gatwick Airport, secured our rental car, and headed out to the Cotswolds. It’s always fun having to recalibrate one’s head to drive on the other side of the road after a seven hour overnight flight, but there we were making our way through roundabouts and setting out on the M25.
Donnington Castle was our halfway point to stretch our legs, soak in some history, walk around the small town, and enjoy some fare and drink at a local pub. Then, off to our B&B in the northern part of the Cotswolds. We made the mistake of arriving an hour prior to the official check-in time, apparently felonious behaviour that was begrudgingly forgiven. Thereafter we enjoyed dinner at another local pub before returning to our B&B for a much needed deep sleep.
We woke up the next morning and had our breakfast overlooking gorgeous countryside. As it happened, we were blessed with uncommonly warm and sunny weather during our stay, and heading out on the narrow country lanes in the wonderful sun and temperatures of 24 British degrees centigrade.
While England is not widely known as a whisky hotbed, there are more and more embers starting to burst into low flame. The Malt Whisky Yearbook from 2023 (my 2024 has not arrived as of yet) lists twenty-two English distilleries, while a website article from Forbes posted January 23, 2023 lists thirty-four English distilleries currently operating.
As with the rest of the globe, England is riding the single malt whisky boom. One of these whisky distilleries, in particular, had drawn my attention prior to our trip. The backstory of this distillery intrigued me. A financially well-off whisky lover decided to create a distillery from the ground up, in a location that had touched his heart and in which he lived. While I had not seen a bottle from this distillery where I live in the United States, this distillery had been talked about quite a bit, and as a bit of serendipity, its location aligned with our travel plans. And so, as part of our trip, my wife and I scheduled a tour and tasting on our second day at The Cotswolds Distillery.
We arrived at a very neat and tidy distillery operations centre off the beaten path in the Cotswolds. As Hamish relayed in his review of the 2017 Odyssey Barley expression from last May:
In 2011, a small farmhouse was purchased by Dan Szor (owner of Cotswolds Distillery) and his wife Katia. Having moved to the farmhouse from their home in London, it wasn’t until 2014 that Dan decided on a change from his 30+ year career in finance into spirit production. Before the first cask of single malt was filled, Dan assembled a team for the initial development of the distillery on the grounds of his farmhouse. Bringing together Harry Cockburn (who’s previous work include master distiller) and Dr. Jim Swan, he ensured that from the first run of their stills, the brand and liquid would be in good hands.
Barley used for the production of Cotswolds single malt whisky is sourced from local farms in the surrounding West Midland region of England. The barley is then sent to Britain’s oldest working maltings Warminster for floor malting, before returning for distillation.
Dan has previously stated in interviews that they do things differently at Cotswolds, mainly being small in their production of whisky. Referring to themselves as a ‘wee’ distillery rather than a ‘craft’ distillery, they have based their production methods and ethos from those you would find in Scottish distilleries that produce single malt whisky.
The farmhouse and its associated lands provide a great backdrop and presentation. The farmhouse has been smartly modernised. Between it and another smartly modernised sister building there is a new building housing a cafe, full facilities, a tasting room, and a video room, where we met our guide.
A quick introduction and a short introductory video, and then our group walked out across the gravel parking lot to the back buildings. These buildings were the distilling facilities – stills, washbacks, etc. – as well as a sample warehouse with a number of racks with ageing casks, and a final building that appeared to have offices and the bottling plant. (I say “sample” warehouse, as, to my eye, this was not a main barrel warehouse due to the small number of casks – this may have been the initial warehouse but appeared to remain as a convenient step in the tour.)
The guide was very nice and knowledgeable, but the presentation was a bit… well… corporate. A bit flat. Whether the guide was having an off morning, or their personality was not one of enormous outgoing, or perhaps not wholly invested in or enamoured with all things whisky (or at least all things The Cotswolds), or whether this was a reflection of the ethos of the place, this was the first whisky tour and tasting I have experienced in which the tour guide was less than invested in the distillery and whisky they were there to highlight.
Whether it has been Bunnahabhain, Bruichladdich, Lagavulin, Kilchoman, Old Line, Sagamore Spirits, or some other, smaller distillery, this was the first for me in which the tour guide was not visibly engaged nor excited to talk about the distillery and its spirits. At every other distillery, my gut recognized the passion in and around the distillery. My gut felt the heartbeat of those distilleries and the excitement of being there. Here, however, my gut had a very different read.
The guide – who was otherwise lovely – seemed to be going through the motions and, at times, appeared to be on a strictly timed procession. On more than one occasion, we were told we would need to move along from one point to the other. It wasn’t rushed, but it wasn’t the same feel as other places which allowed for natural buffers of time as folks looked around or asked questions.
This efficient tour went by and we returned to the building in which we started, landing in a tasting room. As I was the designated driver that day, I was told I could select up to four of their expressions and they would put a travel vial of each of those selected expressions into a small canvas carrying bag. All that was good and fine. The tour guide walked the group through the various expressions – again, with not as much animation as I would have preferred, and it appeared at various moments that the guide had an eye toward the clock. At the end of the tastings, I walked up and made my selections for my four travel vials.
The tour wrapped up at the lunch hour. We walked into the merchandise area, and we looked around. Based on the tastings, my wife and I picked out a bottle to purchase (and is being reviewed here), grabbed a few gifts for our kids, and then decided to have lunch at the cafe. The Cotswolds Distillery cafe is new, smartly appointed, and well run. A delicious lunch was enjoyed that included smoked salmon, cappuccinos, and artisan flatbread pizza. It was quite good, and definitely something different than that which we had experienced in other distillery tours and tastings.
After walking the property and taking some pictures, we were on our way to more adventures through the Cotswolds region.
To round out the tour and tasting experience, I’ll note it wasn’t until that evening back at our B&B that I retrieved my canvas bag. To my chagrin, each of the small vials were only half filled. And, on top of that, as compared with the 2 ounce vials that I purchased to share bottles with my whisky club, vials from The Cotswolds appear to be materially smaller than those that I use for my club. So, a bit disappointed both with the size and the half measures.
Why do I bring the tour and tasting experience up here as part of a whisky review? I believe that a distillery’s ethos is something that is not only the liquid in the bottle, but the people of the distillery, and the manner that the distillery is run and operated. We all can listen to our guts to feel and gauge the spirit, the vibe and energy of a place.
My last tour and tasting occurred at Old Line in Baltimore. Vastly different physical places – spit and polish of The Cotswolds versus the industrial and worn edges of Old Line. What was important, however, was the vastly different energy. Nothing was “wrong” with the Cotswolds tour and tasting. I felt a corporate overlay and lacking in energy and vibrancy. Old Line, however, had that vibrancy, laughter, improvisation, and a clear love of the place and its product. It does make a difference. Perhaps that difference will carry over to the tasting and enjoyment of the liquid poured – I hope it does not.
It is very clear to both me and my wife that while Mr. Szor’s story to build and create the distillery is artfully spun to emphasise his love for whisky and trying his hand at creating a great crafted product, the feel reflects a reality of a business enterprise that happens to have a nice story to go along with it.
Let me be perfectly clear – I have no doubt that Mr. Szor loves whisky and he wanted to make a mark creating the best whisky he could. No doubt whatsoever. But, my experience at the distillery left an indelible impression of an operation that is run with precision, dedication, and an enterprise designed and built to make a handsome profit. Nothing wrong with profit, nor anything wrong with a smartly modernised and beautiful campus. It was stunning. But for us on the tour, the lack of that exuberance, levity, and energy matched the corporate, linear, and clean feeling of the physical distillery.
I don’t want to use the word “sanitised”, as that is unfair. How do I best explain the feeling we had? Compare the feeling of walking into a Starbucks for a latte or cappuccino versus walking into a four table small coffee shop in a small town where the owner is the chief barista and waiter. Both can and do create great cups of coffee, but there is a very different feeling.
I am very glad to have gone to The Cotswolds Distillery. The people could not have been nicer. The grounds are lovely. But there was a clear sense this was a business first, and a love for the spirit next. Again, perhaps it was an off day. But it was the day I had. Very nice. Very orderly. A bit corporate.
With my experience having been told, let’s see how that experience carries over to the tasting experience of the whisky itself. Will this be a Prostian moment where the sensory experience of the liquid transports me back to the distillery?
There were five or six different single malts on the shelves at the distillery, but we selected this one based on the tasting after the tour. Admittedly, I did pinch wee sips from four of my wife’s tastings at the distillery (aside from the Reserve, I tasted their Founder’s Choice, their Peated Cask, and their bourbon cask expressions). Based on that, the decision was made to purchase the Cotswolds Reserve.
Review
Cotswolds Reserve, Single Malt English Whisky, NAS, Small batch 1 of 5000 bottles, NCF, natural colour, 50% ABV
£60 (US$73) paid
I am not sure of the distribution of this expression. It is available at the distillery (and its two shops in the Cotswolds region) as well as online. Even so, the bottle indicates that it is a limited batch release, with my bottle being one of 5,000.
Score: 6/10
Good stuff.
TL;DR
The liquid overcomes the memories
Nose
Apples and nutmeg. Faint hint of pine. Organic honeycomb. Ripe banana. Vanilla bean. Slight oak and some barley notes.
Palate
Sweet fruits and cream. Custard tart. Spices come through – cinnamon, nutmeg, smidge of clove and ginger. Baked apples. Vanilla shines a bit at mid-palate along with some pear nectar and toffee. Throughout the palate, an edgy alcohol tingle is present but not overpowering. Builds mid palate and through. Some orange zest. Corn flakes in whole milk. Finish brings more of a spicy tingle. A very nice dram.
I tried adding a few drops of water, for the only reason that we have a 50% ABV offering. In my opinion, the water did not help to bring out flavours. It muted the existing flavours, though it did address some of the edges. It made an interesting dram drab and pedestrian. Take this whisky neat.
The Dregs
I absolutely agree that my review of the whisky in front of me is taken with the thoughts of the experience I had at the distillery. I’m human, not an automaton. As I mentioned in prior reviews, the surrounding experiences (the Proust effect) do carry over. Despite those memories, this whisky shines in spite of the corporate, business-first feel I had at the distillery. The liquid overrides the spit and polish and lack of passion for the product felt. The liquid I am tasting cuts through any concerns or negativity.
This whisky is good. No doubt about it. The Reserve expression has at its base locally grown barley that is floor malted. It is also a blend of Cotswolds’ whisky aged from first-fill ex-bourbon barrels as well as STR (shaved, toasted, and re-charred) red-wine casks. Both barrels have left their mark on the liquid, and I appreciate those flavours in my glass. The distillery does not provide confirmation about the ratio of the casks used, nor any information about the age of the whisky. In this age of distilleries that are embracing transparency, that Cotswolds does not provide such information is a bit irksome.
There are parallels here – and contrasts – with my review of Virginia Distillery Co.’s Courage & Conviction. As for parallels, Master Distiller Harry Cockburn was instrumental for both expressions. Both distilleries are relatively young. VA Distillery was founded in 2011 and The Cotswolds was founded in 2014. Both expressions are nice drams, though I do prefer the Courage & Conviction by a nose. Both expressions have a slight edginess, as both, to me, are functions of their youthful spirit. As with the Courage & Conviction, I would wager that this bottle would be an easy 7/10 with some more time in the casks.
As for the contrasts, fair or not, it comes down to my experience at The Cotswolds Distillery. Perhaps that is why I remember the Courage & Conviction slightly better? I will have to do a side-by-side comparison. That said, while both distilleries may have not wanted to wait longer and brought their whiskies to market at a young age to recoup some money on their investments – I can’t escape the feeling (my gut, again) that, if my hunch is correct about releasing early to recoup funds, it would have been an easier, corporate business decision for The Cotswolds.
Regardless, the whisky stands on its own and is able to overcome my memories of a less-than-passion-filled tour and tasting. The liquid shouldn’t have to come to the rescue, but it does.
That speaks well for this single malt.
Score: 6/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. OS
-
Dramface is free.
Its fierce independence and community-focused content is funded by that same community. We don’t do ads, sponsorships or paid-for content. If you like what we do you can support us by becoming a Dramface member for the price of a magazine.
However, if you’ve found a particular article valuable, you also have the option to make a direct donation to the writer, here: buy me a dram - you’d make their day. Thank you.
For more on Dramface and our funding read our about page here.
Other opinions on this:
Got a link to a reliable review? Tell us.
