The English distillery putting provenance into the Christmas spirits cabinet

Witchmark Distillery has launched its first gift collection, bringing together three spirits made from grain grown on its Wiltshire estate as England’s distilling industry places greater emphasis on origin, craftsmanship and sustainability.

There is something increasingly specific about the language of English spirits. It is no longer enough for a bottle simply to have been distilled here. Producers are talking about the fields, grain, buildings and landscapes from which their spirits emerge.

Witchmark Distillery, based on the Fonthill Estate in Wiltshire, has made that sense of place central to its first gift set.

The Founders Collection brings together three 5cl bottles from the young distillery’s range: its Single Origin English Vodka, London Dry Single Origin Gin and Black Lime Single Origin Gin. Priced at £20.99, it is a relatively accessible introduction to a producer whose longer term ambitions lie partly with English whisky.

The vodka provides perhaps the clearest expression of Witchmark’s approach. It is made using grain grown on the Fonthill Estate and has already collected a series of awards, including an Outstanding Gold at the International Wine and Spirit Competition, where it received 98 points.

Its London Dry takes a more traditional route, combining juniper with orange and cinnamon, while the Black Lime gin moves further from convention with black lime and Szechuan pepper alongside juniper and coriander.

Together, the three offer a useful snapshot of what Witchmark is attempting to build: spirits recognisably grounded in traditional English distilling, but with enough experimentation to distinguish a relatively new producer in an increasingly crowded market.

A distillery built around its surroundings

Witchmark's setting is unusually important to its identity. The distillery occupies a 17th century Grade II listed barn in the Wiltshire countryside, not far from Stonehenge. Historic protective markings carved into the building provided both its name and part of its visual language.

That history has made its way into the new packaging. The recyclable box is produced in England and carries a debossed Hexafoil pattern derived from a marking found on the walls of the barn.

The decision is more than decorative. Witchmark is B Corp certified and says it is the highest scoring B Corp distillery in England, making the materials and provenance of its packaging part of the same argument it makes about the spirits themselves.

Ben Thomson, the distillery's Marketing Director, says Christmas was an important consideration in developing the collection.

“It was important for Witchmark to be Christmas ready with a gift set that feels premium and accessible,” he says. “The gifting period is also a significant opportunity for discovery, so we wanted to give more people the chance to try our range of award winning spirits and experience the quality and variety of what we produce.”

For a relatively young distillery, discovery matters. A miniature collection asks considerably less of somebody encountering Witchmark for the first time than three full bottles would, while still allowing the producer to establish what differentiates its range.

There is also a larger project developing behind the gin and vodka. Witchmark filled its first whisky casks in 2024 and intends to release its first single malts in 2027. Until maturation allows that part of the business to emerge, its existing spirits provide an introduction to the distillery and the provenance it hopes will eventually distinguish its whisky.

The Founders Collection is available through Witchmark's website and Visitor Centre, Independent Spirit of Bath and Craft Drink Co., with availability through Amathus stores and further retailers expected to follow.

For now, three small bottles offer a preview of a much longer proposition: that English spirits can increasingly be identified not merely by where they are distilled, but by the particular piece of England from which they came.