Review | Filey Bay Flagship

Filey Bay Flagship is the permanent core single malt whisky released by the Spirit of Yorkshire Distillery. It is created from barley that is 100% grown on their property in North Yorkshire, England. They refer to this style of production as field to bottle. All of the barley is regeneratively grown. This single malt is matured exclusively in ex-Bourbon American oak barrels from Kentucky. It follows in style from the ‘First’ and ‘Second’ batch releases.

The Spirit of Yorkshire distillery is the brainchild of Tom Mellor and David Thompson. It is in the village of Hunmanby, between the towns of Bridlington and Filey in Yorkshire. It was the first single malt distillery to ever be registered in the county and gives a true ‘field to bottle’ offering. The single malt range is named after the nearby beauty spot of Filey Bay. On the under side of each bottle you’ll see a secret phrase… “Proudly Made of Yorkshire”.

They grow all barley needed for whisky production on a nearby farm, which is owned by Mellor, before producing, maturing and bottling all spirit on site. The milling, mashing and fermentation parts of the process take place at the Top Wold brewery. This is also owned by Mellor, which is a couple of miles from the distillery. Distillation began in Spring 2016 and current production sits at just over 100,000 litres per year.

Filey Bay Flagship is bottled at 46% ABV with natural colouring and is not chill filtered. You will be able a bottle from many specialist drink retailers across the UK for around £60.

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Our Tasting Notes

This is a light golden coloured whisky with a light and fresh character. With flavours of green and golden yellow apples, brown sugar, honey, white chocolate and vanilla sponge cake. There is also fresh green grass, a twist of lime zest, orange bitters and bright summer florals like a light jasmine or honeysuckle

On the palate this whisky is sweet, vibrant and with a delicate spice. Initially there are notes of sugary sultanas and fudge, followed by candied orange and floral honey. Then come almonds and cashew nuts, plus a distinct hit of crisp green apple with just a hint of fresh fig. Later this evolves with added crumbly brown sugar, drying oak, and cinnamon spice. This gives a lovely mouthwatering dryness.

On the finish there is loads of white chocolate and peppery prickle with citrus zest and oak spices. The finish is of decent length as a result. The oak spices add a drying dimension, which leads on from that experienced on the palate.

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What’s The Verdict?

This is a fresh and light style of whisky. There is a youthfulness to it but thankfully the 100% ex-Bourbon cask maturation brings vibrancy and sweetness plus a good dash of oak spices. The finish is the biggest give away that this a young style of whisky, being quite peppery and hot spicy. But Flagship represents a fine core product and is a great introduction to what Spirit of Yorkshire are doing and English whisky in general.