I’m sure many All But Drams readers have enjoyed a whisky on a wet and windy afternoon, but what about an entire whisky festival? The English Whisky Festival was a warm island of joy on an umbrella-wrecking day as Storm Burt charged over Birmingham. There was lots of positive energy at the show as the rain lashed down outside, and that energy felt unique from all other festivals we’ve covered this year.

Some parochial enthusiasts will still scrunch their noses up at the concept of English Whisky but they’re a minority now. The volume of sales at home and abroad proves the category is getting appreciated and consumed at a healthy rate. There are now 55 distilleries in England which means the region outnumbers Ireland and is gaining on Japan in terms of individual operations even if volume and age statements are much lower.

The English Whisky Festival gathers the majority (30+) of these small producers in a room for one afternoon each year whereas most shows deliver a mix of regions and producer sizes. This is the source of the vibe that separates it from its sister shows like Croydon Whisky Festival as well as the local competition. There’s not just plenty of whisky here either, new makes, rums, liqueurs, gins and more are present on the stands making the show a prime opportunity to try something new or pick up some gifts for the whisky ambivalent people in your life.

The Bond is reminiscent of other ex-industrial event spaces. Plenty of metal work and exposed brick, canalside features and lots of glass to let light flood in. It reminds me of London’s Tobacco Dock which hosts many similar events. The space works well for a whisky festival with a mix of indoor and outdoor covered seating. There was lots of room between stands so even at its peak it didn’t feel overwhelming and shouting wasn’t required. Exploring English Whisky knows how to put on an event and all the little touches we look for were there: Water stations were everywhere and always full. Spittoons were on nearly every stand. The loos looked brand new and were still in a good state by the end of the show. There was plenty of space to sit down and enjoy a chat or the multiple food options (essential as there’s not much nearby to eat). Distilleries were allowed to sell direct to consumers as well as through the on-site shop.

To find flaws with The English Whisky Festival you have to be nitpicky. The queue was slower than a lot of other events to get folks in, largely because of the Eventbrite app being fussy. Many stands were often running with one person meaning a several minute wait just to get a dram. The split over two areas wasn’t well advertised and I found people well over an hour into the show who were surprised there was another space across the yard. However, these just don’t stand up the vast list of things that Exploring English Whisky and The Bond get right. 

This praise for the organization and venue matters, but it doesn’t answer the big question: Is an English Whisky Festival worth your time and money?

I paid £49.58 for a standard ticket that got me six hours of whisky time. For £10 more I could join Exploring English Whisky’s membership at its second tier and get a free ticket among other benefits. The standard price is still a few quid cheaper than the local competition, Whisky Birmingham, which takes place in the same venue. It’s a whole £20 cheaper than the larger Midlands Whisky Festival in Birmingham city centre too. There are perhaps better value festivals up and down the country but this festival is right on the average we feel and a strong offering for anyone local.

There is still a limit to what you can experience at a festival like this. There are no age statement older than 17 as nothing existed before The English Distillery filled their first cask in 2006. On the flip side most bottles on show cost comfortably under £100 with a ceiling around £300 for the aforementioned English Distillery 17 year old. Some other bottlings like Bimber’s  Spirit of the Underground series may go for several thousand on the secondary market now but even they were under £150 RRP.

Whereas other shows might sell themselves on offering rare bottlings or obscure world whisky you can’t buy in the UK, The English Whisky Festival focuses on the experimental and the new. Want to try heritage grain new makes? What about chestnut casks? How about a whisky barrel aged gin instead?  Of course there’s familiar things too. Sherry bombs, peat monsters and fruity speyside-alikes but they’re not what’s exciting the crowd. It’s the creativity within grains, yeasts, distillation processes, casks and terroir delivering unique profiles that stand out.

All this creativity isn’t just the category trying to fight against its youth. It’s influenced by the very different regulations on English Whisky vs Scotch. To quote the festival organizers: 

The only rules that currently apply are EU whisky laws – specifically; distillation of grain / cereal based mash, fermentation by the addition of yeast, one or more distillations at less than 94.8% alcohol, maturation in wooden casks for at least 3 years and no additives except caramel colouring can be used & alcohol content of final product over 40%. This may seem like a lot of rules, but compared to Scotch produced north of the border, this is like a post-it note compared to a 3-part trilogy. – Exploring English Whisky

Optimists will say the lax regulations on English whisky mean greater creativity and diversity, cynics say it’s allowing some distilleries to sneak through lower quality products than their Scottish counterparts. Getting to taste whisky aged in barrels other than oak is an exciting prospect for me personally, but only time will tell how English Whisky evolves and if quality will remain paramount.

My own optimism stems from the community. After a year of attending shows across the South and Midlands I now recognize many familiar faces. These people are enthusiasts who love whisky as a whole but are discerning and want to support smaller craft distillers rather than big brands, or perhaps they’re just chasing something fresh and exciting to put into the collection. Creativity and craft are the order of business at the English Whisky Festival and that makes it worth a trip for anyone curious.

We’re currently reviewing all three of Birmingham’s whisky festivals to see which one comes out on top. Midlands Whisky Festival has already had the All But Drams treatment. Keep an eye out for Whisky Birmingham in the spring.