When the first copper stills were fired up on a Norfolk farmstead in late 2006, it marked the return of English whisky after more than a century of silence. The venture was the vision of James and Andrew Nelstrop, a father and son determined to prove that England could produce spirit of the highest calibre. Within months the distillery had royal recognition, with Prince Charles cutting the ribbon in 2007, and a new chapter in whisky history had begun.

The distillery takes its name from St George, England’s patron saint, but it is the local land and water that give the spirit its true identity. Barley from surrounding fields forms the mash, while the aquifer beneath Roudham supplies water of exceptional purity. A pair of Forsyths stills, shipped down from Rothes, provide the copper heart of production. Even a serious fire in 2010 could not halt progress, testimony to the resilience of the team behind the stills.

In style the whisky is deliberately straightforward: natural in colour, unfiltered, and bottled at a robust strength to let character shine. The early bottlings appeared as “Chapters,” small stories told through varying casks and finishes, before evolving into “The English” range. Today the house produces both unpeated and smoky variants, as well as a grain-based line known as “The Norfolk.” Taken together they reveal a distillery that is at once young and pioneering, yet steeped in traditions reaching back across the border to Scotland.