Abingdon Distillery – From Garage to Silver

The interesting story of how Abingdon Distillery moved from a home garage business to an award-winning whisky. The company’s first single malt whisky won a silver medal.

A family-run whisky distillery in Abingdon has become the center of attention after the World Whisky Masters crowned it category leader for New Make and donned it a silver medal. According to a report by the Oxford Mail, company founder, and chief distiller, Jordan Morris, entered the competition on a joking challenge.

Abingdon Distillery Wins Surprising Award

Abingdon Distillery which has recently opened, was launched in the garage area of Morris’ home. Even then, he was still a full-time worker in Newcastle. Morris told the Abingdon Herald that he was surprised to receive the award. He said:

“It was good to be given the award. I’ve come from hospitality. I’m not a brewer, so it was a bit unexpected.

“I entered the competition on a whim, someone told me to enter as a joke, so I did.

“It was good to get recognition, and good to know what we’ve made is great already. We can only improve.”

In addition, Morris had only got the distillery up a few months before the surprising award. The World Whisky Masters seemed to have visited the distillery during its wash preparation stage. The judges and other distillers were appreciative of his efforts and gave him tips and recommendations, which he quickly applied.

He explained: “It takes three years until a whisky can be called a whisky, the raw grains need a good amount of time in oak to get the flavors and develop. We’ve got three casks on site.

“This award was based on the raw, new-make spirit, and it came a few weeks before we started filling the casks.

“We made tweaks based on judge feedback, and other distillers gave me some tips, which I did for the first task.”