Yes, there is such a thing as English whisky – and it rivals the Scots

telegraph.co.uk:

Caorunn and The Botanist. While, in England, a whisky revival is underway. It began in Cornwall in 2003 when Hicks & Healey made the first English whisky for a century.

In 2006, the English Whisky Company opened in Norfolk. ‘My father had always dreamt of making whisky,’ says owner Andrew Nelstrop. ‘He kept bringing it up and when he turned 60 we said, “Go and have a go.”’ The Nelstrops were arable farmers (‘mainly combinable wheat, barley and that sort of thing’) and there is also a family building business, which positioned them perfectly for a trade whose raw ingredient is barley and for which a distillery needed to be built.Because of its lengthy ageing requirements, whisky is not a business to go into to make a fast buck. ‘It’s like planting a wood.

One day, a generation will get some benefit from it,’ says Nelstrop.That hasn’t deterred others from heading into the field, although it does explain why so many whisky distillers also make gin – for the cash flow.

Nelstrop says there are now at least 37 whisky distillers in England (a trade body is forthcoming but not currently in existence).