The Spirit of Manchester Distillery enters whisky market

The Spirit of Manchester Distillery has launched its first whisky, the OnePointSix English, as it moves into the whisky market with a £1 million investment, the biggest since it was founded in 2016.

The single malt OnePointSix, named after Leonardo Fibonacci's golden ratio, will be casked this July, with the first bottle due to launch towards the end of 2025.

Seb Heeley-Wiggins, master distiller at The Spirit of Manchester, said: “We have watched with interest at how the English whisky market has been performing and we are proud to be at the forefront of this trend.

“The malts we have sourced are often used in the brewing world, and this has enabled us to be much more experimental and innovative in the flavour profile we have created. We believe we will be offering something completely new to the market, and we’re excited to launch to the public in 2025,” Heeley-Wiggins added.

The whisky will be distilled using the company's carbon-neutral, 750-litre custom copper still, combining English roasted and kilned malts, as the company has also worked with JW Lees Brewery to source a 5,000th generation yeast for the project, dating back 30 years.

The Distillery will also launch a Founders Club membership scheme, enabling those interested to enjoy regular updates and samples of the whisky throughout its lifetime.