Whitewood Distilling Co: This Leeds distillery is changing the game with innovative botanical spirits

Founded after lockdown by the former owners of city centre bar Poison Cocktail Lounge, Whitewood Distilling Co has already developed a reputation for creating some of the most interesting drinks around.

The Leeds-based distillery quickly found its success last year in small batch distilling of innovative spirits, starting off with dry gin and dreaming big of others to come.

Ellis Morton, head of distillation and product development, spoke to the YEP about Whitewood’s journey so far.

"We took all our creativity and everything we were known for [at Poison Cocktail Lounge] and got our heads down and decided to do a spirits brand. It was a daunting prospect at first but when we realised the potential and the character that was beginning to develop there, it started to fuel us and give us some energy to do it.

"We started to get a clearer vision of what we wanted [Whitewood] to be.”

After settling down in Headingley back in 2021, the folk behind Whitewood began working hard to create some exciting new products, with experimentation at the forefront of everyone’s minds.

Looking to shake up the distilling industry with innovative flavours and deeply intricate distilling methods, Whitewood soon found that the world was their oyster when it came to invention.

“My idea shelf is literally buckling!” Laughed Ellis.

"But unfortunately, and fortunately, I’m kept in check because it takes a long time to build something, to build demand. These are all things we learnt through [Poison Cocktail Lounge], especially with us being such a small distillery.

We do need to take our time a little bit more than bigger distilleries who have more resources, but really we have so many ideas that I can’t wait to share.”

One of these ideas coming to fruition is a brand new botanical spirit range, launching on 23 August.

Different from gin, these botanical spirits will harness the popularity of the flavoured gin market and create a bespoke set of spirits backed by alternative botanicals.

"I think people are quite used to a lot of flavoured gins now; it’s quite a saturated market and it’s a hard nut to crack,” explained Ellis.

"We can see things starting to shift so we’re trying to offer people something really different, something that will intrigue people and get them excited and talking again.

“I want to see this range really grow, maybe even into a line of eight flavours. Each one I want to be fruit-led, and they’re going to be backed up with a unique set of botanicals and spices."

The launch of the botanical range is just the beginning for Whitewood, with ambitious plans to branch out into both vermouth and bitters on the cards soon.

"These are really the beginning steps for us,” said Ellis.

"We're looking to release a vermouth at the end of the year, I'm also looking into producing barrel-aged bitters.

"I want to create a really interesting portfolio of stuff that is just different and of really high quality.”

Whitewood’s botanical range launches on 23 August and can be purchased from Eat Your Greens, Latitude and via their website.