Spirit of Yorkshire farms its own barley at Hunmanby Grange, a few miles from Filey Bay on England's east coast, and distils on-site with copper pot stills built by Forsyths of Rothes. The Peated Finish is an unpeated spirit matured primarily in first-fill bourbon casks, then given a finishing period in casks that previously held the distillery's own peated whisky. The result is a kind of ghost-peating — smoke inherited rather than born in — and it's a clever way of letting the distillery's peated work cast a wider shadow across the range.
What strikes you first is how delicate it is. This isn't an Islay imitation, and it was never meant to be. The house character — clean, grassy, cereal-rich Yorkshire malt — remains fully present, and the smoke drapes across it like a scarf rather than a heavy coat. It shows the willingness of distillers Tom Mellor and Joe Clark to experiment without losing sight of what makes their spirit distinctive: the closeness to the grain, the coastal air, the control that comes from doing everything on one site.
Bottled at 46% without chill-filtration or added colour, it rewards patience in the glass. A few drops of water coax out more of the orchard fruit and soften the smoke further, unlocking a waxy, almost candied note beneath. It sits neatly alongside the distillery's other Flagship Range releases, offering a point of contrast for anyone exploring what English single malt can be. For a relatively young distillery — first spirit ran in 2016 — the confidence here is notable, and the light touch with smoke suggests a producer confident in its own voice.
