Meet the people behind Filey's thriving whisky distillery

I used to spend my summer holidays in a caravan at Filey.
David Thompson, left, and Tom Mellor in the Spirit of Yorkshire distillery, where they produce Filey Bay. (Picture: Simon Hulme).David Thompson, left, and Tom Mellor in the Spirit of Yorkshire distillery, where they produce Filey Bay. (Picture: Simon Hulme).
David Thompson, left, and Tom Mellor in the Spirit of Yorkshire distillery, where they produce Filey Bay. (Picture: Simon Hulme).

Through the lens of nostalgia, it was always sunny, there were blackberries to pick and the beach was perfect for building sandcastles. And my dad would sit on a fold-up chair in the sunshine, which was odd because he generally worked long hours so we hardly saw him during the rest of the year.

Fast forward that scene to 2020 and we might have seen less of dad, even on holiday. Now there is a whisky distillery just down the road and, while the pandemic is keeping the doors closed for now, it generally attracts 30,000 visitors a year to the distillery, shop and cafe. My dad would certainly have been one of them.

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Filey Bay is the name of the single malt whisky from the Spirit of Yorkshire distillery, which was established in 2016 and is Yorkshire’s only producer of whisky.

The flagship Filey Bay whisky.The flagship Filey Bay whisky.
The flagship Filey Bay whisky.

Created by business partners and friends Tom Mellor and David Thompson, the idea came to them a few years ago when they realised that Tom’s farm was sending a lot of his top-quality malting barley to Scotland to make Scotch. With his own water source on the farm, and his well-established Wold Top Brewery already on site, surely they could make whisky themselves, closer to home?

While there are now several gin distilleries across Yorkshire, making whisky is a much more complicated and expensive process. And the first criteria this pair wanted to establish was that this would be a Yorkshire whisky with heritage and provenance. So the barley comes from Tom’s farm in Hunmanby; it is malted at Muntons Maltings in Bridlington, and the mash is made at Wold Top using lightly malted barley and special yeasts which encourage a long fermentation to give a fruity style of wash.

The final process happens in an industrial unit in Hunmanby, which at first sight is a long way from the picturesque settings of many Scottish distilleries. However, once inside, the majesty of the two shiny copper pot stills and a rectifying column, as well as the sheer excitement of seeing the clear distillate run through the spirit safe, make up for any first impressions.

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These stills were just part of the huge investment Tom and David have made in the business. Hand-made in Scotland, these Forsyth stills are oil fired and each distillation can reduce 5,000 litres of alcoholic wash to enough high-strength spirit to fill 14 used Bourbon casks.

“How much did the stills cost?” I asked. “An arm, a leg and much more besides,” said David. As well as all the ingredients and equipment, the most important factor in whisky making is experience, but the two business partners had no prior knowledge of the process.

“We were fortunate to take on a consultant, Dr Jim Swan, who was instrumental in setting up distilleries in Scotland and Ireland as well as in Canada, Taiwan and India,” added David. “He held our hand in the early days, making sure we knew what we were doing and helping us make good whisky. It was he who told us that the distillate we made would mature into good whisky after cask ageing.”

Now in lockdown, David is doing the distilling, as well as supervising the bottling line, which when I spoke to him was starting a run of new miniature bottles in time for the Christmas season.

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Casks are a vital part of the ageing process and Filey Bay buys in used bourbon casks from America, sherry casks from Jerez and even some wine casks from Rioja. Some of them are known as STR, which means that the inside has been shaved, toasted and re-charred to provide a fresh surface to interact with the spirit.

“After all, we don’t want red wine colour to get into the whisky,” said David. The casks mature for at least three years, while the spirit builds complexity and flavour. Then before bottling the spirit is reduced to 46 per cent alcohol by volume using the clear water that flows from the chalk aquifer on the farm.

As well as being focused on making a whisky that is born and bred in Yorkshire, Tom and David are very keen to maintain the quality of the soil for growing their barley. “In time, we aim to be carbon neutral and to help us towards that goal we don’t plough the soil which would release a lot of carbon. We grow spring barley which we drill directly into the soil, and during the long winter fallow period we plant nitrogen-fixing plants, such as clover and radish, which will keep the soil structure healthy for future generations,” added David.

Another factor that gives Filey Bay integrity is that the whisky is not chill filtered, and no caramel is added.

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Following on from several initial small-batch releases, the Flagship is the first batch of what they are calling the core range. This is the latest release, distilled in 2016 and 2017, and matured in Bourbon casks. It is creamy, light and fruity, with notes of citrus, honey and vanilla and David recommends that you try it neat – but of course you should drink it as you like.

This is a whisky for the end of the day, to sip and savour. It is available at the distillery, on the Spirit of Yorkshire website (£55, www.spiritofyorkshire.com) and at many independent wine shops in Yorkshire and even in some London shops, but snap it up when you see it as supplies are limited. Booths supermarkets bought 1,000 bottles of a special Sherry Cask Single Malt (£70) and has almost sold out. Julian at the Wright Wine Company in Skipton said Filey Bay whisky flies off the shelves.

The bottle captures the sense of sea and the local birds, with an image of a swooping gannet embossed in the glass. The label appears to be a simple design in blue and gold, but if you know the area you can see that it shows the golden sands and the blue sea of Filey Bay.

For me, all that’s missing are the blackberry bushes and my dad sitting on a fold-up chair.

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