East London Liquor Co makes a comeback
English spirits producer the East London Liquor Company has unveiled its first product in three years, and revealed the location of its new brand home.
Having spent its first decade at Bow Wharf, East London Liquor has now opened a new brand home on Mentmore Terrace in London Fields, Hackney.
This self-designed space is described as an ‘altar to new world whisky’, and as well as serving as the company’s office, the space houses a custom lab, which will ‘spearhead’ new product development; a whisky blending room designed to welcome both consumers and drinks industry members; and facilities to run WSET levels two and three training for the drinks trade.
This new site will also mark a step-change in how East London Liquor will produce its spirits. The brand plans to operate a nomadic production model, leveraging its network of partner distilleries to meet rising demand across its portfolio.
Founder Alex Wolpert explained: “In the current economic climate where overheads and labour costs are only going one way, the sustainable model for us as an indie producer is to retain our production team and all their expertise in house and be nomadic in our distilling locations.
“We have a phenomenal network of partner distilleries, and our team are incredibly excited to be working with them. Our approach is doggedly pragmatic to futureproof the business. Our new operational set up allows us to hold on to what has always been most important; making our own spirits and serving our industry and community. It’s as simple as that. Our number one priority was to find a liquid development and experiential space.”
East London Liquor experienced a period of administration in late 2023 after HMRC (His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs) imposed new ‘untenable’ conditions on its Time to Pay agreement.
At the time, Wolpert said: “With HMRC’s recent and unreasonable demands, our business can no longer operate in its current form.”
However, the company was bought out of administration by Wolpert with the help of partners in December 2023.
East London Threads
To mark this new chapter in the brand’s life, East London Liquor has launched its first new product release in three years, which seeks to showcase layers of ‘curated character and flavour’ from East London Liquor’s own grain-to-glass whiskies, alongside carefully selected single malt casks from Loch Lomond.
For this new product, titled East London Threads: Blended Whisky, the brand has partnered with John Glaser, founder of Compass Box, to collaborate on the liquid development.
Glaser’s 20 years of pioneering blending expertise has guided the innovation and creativity behind this product, which has been designed to make East London’s ‘bold’ approach to whisky-making as accessible as possible for drinkers.
Wolpert said: “This project was born from us interrogating how we can make our whisky as smashable and exciting as possible. What is the most ‘East London thing’ we could do with whisky? It’s proof of how seriously we take our philosophy of always being led by flavour and only flavour and sharing our approach to whisky with as many drinkers as we can.
“This project honours the traditional practices of whisky blending, while being inspired by the future of what whisky can still become. Having John on board for our release of East London Threads: Blended Whisky made the breaking down of whisky barriers all the more enlightening. It’s been a privilege to work together.”
Sam Garbutt, head of whisky at East London Liquor Co, added: “In some ways it’s the last thing people expected us to do: team up with John Glaser and release a blend. For 10 years we’ve made whisky on the fringes – laying down different grains and wild ferments tuned to London’s hard water, much like the stout makers of the 18th century. Now felt like the moment to open that work up to a wider drinking audience, partnering with Loch Lomond and marrying these styles into something easy-drinking yet properly characterful.”
The blend is a combination of East London’s single malts, rye whiskies, and a partner distillery whisky. Two unpeated Scottish single malts set a clean yet textured base, while East London malts bring ‘funk, fruit and mouthfeel’, and the signature East London Rye carries a hint of spice through to the finish.
The resulting liquid is described as oily, waxy, and wildly drinkable, with tasting notes including chocolate-dipped-strawberries, cherry blossom and a neighbour’s fire pit on the nose, with rum and raisin, white peach, and dried banana on the palate.
The finish is honey flapjack, golden syrup and a gentle passing drift of smoke.
John Glaser said: “My role was to help Alex and Sam bring clarity to their vision and support the creative process, from defining what they wanted the whisky to say, to how they could get there. They did the real work. This whisky is all theirs. I just helped coach from the sidelines. What they’ve made is bold, delicious, and refreshingly unpretentious – a whisky with real soul and purpose.”
Garbutt noted: “There’s no point innovating for innovation’s sake; beyond his vast knowledge, what I valued most in working with John was his calm, thoughtful focus on our brief. Publishing the blend breakdown was important to us too – total transparency. I want people to pull it apart and figure out what does what… or not, and just enjoy the whisky.”
Destined for both export and home markets, East London Threads: Blended Whisky retails for £42 (US$56) and is available from the East London Liquor Co webshop.
Distribution partners include IND for the US and Escalon Partners for European markets.
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