Cotswolds Distillery in Stourton was founded in 2014 by Dan Szor, a New York financier who fell in love with the Cotswolds and decided to make whisky there. The Founder's Choice is the cask-strength expression — using floor-malted Cotswolds-grown barley and maturation in STR (shaved, toasted, recharred) wine casks alongside bourbon barrels.
The cask strength presentation reveals the full potential of Cotswolds' spirit. The floor-malted local barley provides a distinctive cereal richness, and the STR cask influence adds the tropical fruit notes that the technique is famous for. At over 60%, the young spirit has impressive weight and flavour intensity.
Cotswolds Founder's Choice is one of the most impressive young English single malts. The combination of floor-malted local barley, STR cask influence and cask-strength presentation produces a whisky that competes credibly with established Scottish distilleries. English whisky's future looks bright, and Cotswolds is one of the brightest lights.
