English whiskey's golden age

Raise a glass to the wonderful breadth of flavour available south of the border

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For proof of the revitalisation of English whisky, you need look no further than England's rich flavour map... there are now more than 60 distilleries in various stages of making and laying down spirit.

And it's safe to say it's been a long time coming. English whisky dates back to the 1800s, but the industry gradually died out, with the Lea Valley Distillery the last to close its doors in the early 1900s.

Today, to many people's surprise, we're in the midst of a new golden age of distilling-and the future's looking bright.

Marking a new era for whisky lovers, "it's the overall boom in whisky itself," highlights Matt McKay, managing director and whisky maker at The London Distillery Company, founded in 2011 and an early pioneer of the English whisky category.

"Over the past 20 years it's expanded from being niche, to being much more understood. It's moved away from being older men in armchairs, to embracing all sorts of different demographics," suggests McKay.

"And English whisky has come along just at the right time. People are much more open-minded about where their whisky comes from... they certainly didn't used to be," he quips.