Spirit of Yorkshire Distillery — Attraction in Hunmanby

I had a birthday trip around the distillery and was so impressed with what Spirit of Yorkshire have set out to achieve. The distillery operation is based in what, from the outside, looks a pretty unprepossessing grey industrial style unit. Step through the threshold though and you are immediately transported into the wonderful world of Spirit of Yorkshire. Great attention to detail has been paid to the reception and visitor areas to give a welcoming and upscale feel with quality fittings and lighting being used. The distillery tour was brilliant with our guide being knowledgeable, enthusiastic and engaging and she really brought home how the concept of Spirit of Yorkshire had developed from the germ of an idea to the reality of a working distillery which had control of all its constituent elements with a total emphasis on local suppliers.

So how was the tasting? In a word superb! At the moment the spirit is described as "maturing malt" because it hasn't yet reached the age at which it can be legally called whisky - that happens next year - but don't let that put you off because you will be missing out if you do. I am not a whiskey aficionado, but I do know, after 40 years of casual imbibing what I like, and to me Spirit of Yorkshire's maturing malt, at two years old already stands comparison with the best of the Speyside type Scottish single malts. Having bought one bottle, I will be returning for more and can't wait for the first release next year of the first bottles of Spirit of Yorkshire Single Malt Whisky. I wish them well - the company have taken a real leap of faith to set up the distillery with a significant investment aimed at producing a high quality product showcasing what just what Yorkshire can do!

Ps : the upstairs cafe has a great offering of beautifully cooked locally...

Now, I know what you're thinking. "Oh yeah, 5 stars? Really?" But you can trust me. I'm not one of those reviewers who just stick 5 stars on when a place should have 4. The Yorkshire Distillery (home of the Filey Bay single malt whisky) deserves all of those 5 stars. We went to their excellent coffee shop, the Pot Still, for an afternoon tea as a birthday treat. Out of the windows, you can see the distillery in one direction and the open countryside of Yorkshire in the other. The sandwiches were beautifully made. A choice of tuna and cucumber, cheese and pickle, ham and cream cheese with cress. Also a couple of slices of cheese quiche and a dressed salad. The sandwiches were cut into finger sized pieces. Very moreish! We had 2 generous pots of tea, which were refreshed for us. And the desserts? Mini Victoria sponge cake with strawberry jam, chocolate brownie, fruit cake with Filey Bay whisky, and fruited scones with jam and clotted cream. The staff were absolutely brilliant. Very attentive and so helpful. The prices are about what you'd expect for an afternoon tea of this quality (and quantity!) We were offered boxes to take home the cakes we didn't manage to eat. Now we are looking at the calendar to see if there's another family...

We went pre-covid for an afternoon tea and tour round the distillery. The food was great, really high standard. The tour is good, it doesn't take long because the distillery is quite small but this is expected for such a relatively young distillery. The important thing is every member of staff we met seemed to be engaged and passionate about what they do and cared about customer experience.

I left a review on TripAdvisor originally but realised I haven't left one on here, the reason I'm posting this is because they've just gone out of their way for a second time to help me regarding a remote tasting that I had ordered. They have great customer service.

In case it needs mentioning, their whisky is now a staple in my collection. The Batch 1, 2 and moscatel finishes expressions have all been great so far and I'm looking forward to what they have to show...