Yorkshire Day falls on the first of August, the anniversary of the county's historic ridings, and since 2020 Spirit of Yorkshire has marked it with a limited annual release that celebrates everything the distillery stands for — home-grown barley, Hunmanby farmland, and the long grey line of the North Sea at Filey Bay.
The Yorkshire Day Edition is typically drawn from a hand-selected vatting of casks the team believes best captures the house style at that moment in its evolution — often a blend of first-fill bourbon and sherry-influenced wood. The result is a gentle, confident single malt that plays to Filey Bay's strengths: orchard fruit, soft cereal warmth, vanilla and a clean Yorkshire finish.
The nose is inviting and bright — poached pear, clotted cream, honeyed malt, a wisp of vanilla oak. On the palate it is all soft English summer: vanilla custard, shortbread, a gentle hum of dried apricot and a dust of light oak spice. The finish is medium-long and warming, the barley sweetness easing off through clean wood into a last malty echo.
At 46% and non-chill-filtered, it drinks beautifully neat. More than a gimmick release, this is the distillery's annual letter home — a thoughtful and quietly proud pour that reminds you how quickly Spirit of Yorkshire has found its voice in the English single malt landscape.
