Spirit of Yorkshire shortlisted for prestigious regional food and drink award

Hunmanby-based Spirit of Yorkshire Distillery has been shortlisted in the Quench category in the third annual Garbutt and Elliott Food and Drink Business Awards that celebrate Yorkshire's burgeoning food and drink sector from growers and manufacturers to leisure and hospitality businesses.

Spirit of Yorkshire's Co-Founder and Director, David Thompson is delighted with the news.

"The ‘Quench' category celebrates the best drinks in the region and, as a young business producing Yorkshire's first whisky, Filey Bay, we're very proud to take our place alongside established businesses and put North Yorkshire on the English whisky making map," he said,

Spirit of Yorkshire Distillery faces competition in the final from

* family-run North Yorkshire vineyard, Dunesforde

* Yorkshire Wolds Apple Juice

* York-based Sloemotion

* and cold brew tea and coffee producer, Fitch .

The winners will be announced at an event in the Parade Ring Restaurant at York Racecourse on April 30.

Spirit of Yorkshire was launched in 2016 and is a collaboration between farmer and brewer, Tom Mellor from Wold Top Brewery and business partner, David Thompson.

The distillery is a true field to bottle setup and boasts some of the most impressive distilling equipment in the country, including two of the largest Forsyth pot stills operating in the UK outside of Scotland. It is the only distillery operating in the UK that grows all of its own barley for its whisky production.