Highgrove and Cotswolds Distillery team up for a limited edition whisky

Highgrove and Cotswolds Distillery have collaborated to launch a limited-edition Royal Gardens single malt whisky, using heritage barley grown on the Highgrove Estate.

This special edition has been created from a unique vatting of Cotswolds Distillery single malt whisky made using heritage Plumage Archer barley grown at the Highgrove Estate and aged in premium active ex-red wine and first fill bourbon casks.

Plumage Archer is a barley variety which yields a subtle but unique twist on Cotswolds’ new make spirit. The Royal Gardens edition was bottled exclusively by Cotswolds Distillery on 21st October 2024 and a limited-edition collection of just 400 bottles is available to purchase exclusively from The Highgrove Shop at Highgrove Gardens, the Highgrove website and Cotswolds Distillery shops and website. Each bottle of Highgrove Royal Gardens Single Malt Whisky is numbered and adorned with a label showcasing a watercolour of The South Front, Highgrove House by His Majesty King Charles III reproduced by kind permission of The King’s Foundation to Cotswolds Distillery.

The King’s Foundation is the custodian of Highgrove Gardens for the opening of Highgrove Gardens to the public, which generates an annual income for the charity. All profits from sales of the whisky will support The King’s Foundation for its charitable delivery of education and training initiatives, some of which take place at Highgrove. The King’s Foundation’s base at Highgrove accommodates education and training opportunities in furniture-making, fashion, and textiles, and building craft skills.

Scott Simpson, retail director at The King’s Foundation, said: “We are so excited to launch a new limited edition whisky with Cotswolds Distillery and it’s particularly special that it has been produced using heritage barley grown on the Highgrove Estate. The garden at Highgrove provides inspiration for all of our products, including our extensive range of food and drink made using ingredients from the garden. We are proud that all of the proceeds from Highgrove products are ploughed back into the work of The King’s Foundation and the charity’s educational delivery which takes place on site.’’

Cotswolds Distillery founder Dan Szor comments: “We are so happy with our ongoing relationship with Highgrove, which represents traditional values of British craftsmanship at its finest, and it is an honour indeed to adorn this bottling with His Majesty’s beautiful painting of the Highgrove Estate.”

The Cotswolds Distillery is the first and only full-scale distillery in the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is committed to being a model of environmentally sustainable rural business, creating jobs and highlighting its beautiful region to visitors from around the world. All the barley is sourced locally and traditionally floor-malted at nearby Warminster Maltings, Britain’s oldest working maltings, where Plumage Archer barley was originally invented in 1906.

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