UK’s highest distillery hidden in the Peak District where whisky tastes ‘better’

These pictures show workings at the UK’s highest distillery - operating at more than 500 metres above sea level.

Karl Bond, 47, started the Forest Distillery, which makes gin and single malt English whisky, with his wife Lindsay, 45, back in 2015, after starting to distil gin on their home kitchen table.

Located 1,689 ft (514 metres) above sea level in a 17th century pub building, it’s the UK’s highest distillery by elevation.

And Karl said its unique location makes the whisky taste better.

Karl said: “Distilling at altitude, there is a science behind it.

“If you boil water at 100C, if you boil at a higher attitude it boils at 98C because of the atmospheric pressure – if you go higher still, that temperature drops further.

“It’s the same with alcohol, our stills operate at a very slightly lower temperature than everyone else’s in this country.

“I always compare it with making a stew or casserole, if you slow boil you’re extracting those flavours better.”

Located in the Peak District, the distillery uses local bottles, botanicals, grain, and even its own spring water to create its products.

The flavours are popular both domestically and abroad in places including Japan, Canada, and Hong Kong – with the company’s earl grey tea gin particularly popular in Asia.

Whisky fans have even hosted weddings and funerals at the idyllic location, which was formerly The Cat & Fiddle pub and even hosted Charles Rolls, of Rolls Royce, when he was testing his cars in the 1900s.

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Karl said: “You don’t have to go all the way to Scotland, you can come and see an amazing whisky distillery in a remote location without going all the way to Scotland.

“We’ve had people having wedding celebrations here, we’ve had funerals, they’ve been filming TV shows up here.

“There’s loads of quirky stories – there used to be bodies piled up, it’s such a remote spot, it was built in 1813 so there was no electricity, no running water here.

“If you get lost on those moors outside, you don’t survive long – apparently the landlord used to literally pull people off the moors and pile them in the back bar.

“It’s a quirky old site, but now the cellars that used to be for the meats and cheeses and everything are filled with whisky barrels.”