A beautiful distillery nestled in an area of outstanding beauty
RATING ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Highlights
- Stunning location
- Generous samples of all the spirits
- Café with delicious food
- Passionate knowledgeable guides
Duration – 45 minutes
Cost – £20
Location- Stourton, Shipton-on-Stour
Gin Intro
I am very fortunate to live in a wonderful part of the UK and to have the Cotswolds on my doorstep. This distillery was for a long time my “local” only about 20 minutes from us (now we have a few closer hope to share them soon).
My first visit to Cotswolds Gin was about 5 years (2016) when they had just started tours, and only had the one gin – Cotswold Dry (a beautiful cloudy gin with hints of Cotswold lavender). The distillers primary focus then was whiskey, I was impressed by the passion of the distillers – their whiskey expertise makes for some amazing gin. Since then, we have been several times, sometime to just stock up and have watched it grow both in size and popularity.
The Tour 4⭐️
The tour starts at the visitor centre, with a film that shares the history of the distillery and its founder, a native New Yorker, Dan Szor, who after working in finance in London, wanted to spend more time in the Cotswolds. A passionate lover of whisky, his dream was to build a business around his favourite spirit and in 2014 Cotswold Distillery opened its doors. After the film we went into the distillery itself, as I said it is a whiskey and gin tour, so you get to see how both their award-winning spirits are made, oh and smell. The whiskey vats are huge, and the smell of the fermentation process very distinctive.
The Taste 5⭐️
We returned to the visitor centre for sampling. It’s all designed classicly British, and felt like a boutique hotel rather than a distillery. The samples are generous, and with such a huge range of spirits now there are plenty to try. When we visited my favourite was of course the Cotswold Dry and the Cotswold Cream Liquor
Tour Top Tips
- Arrive on time, but allow yourself time to spend admiring the views, it is a beautiful part of the country, maybe take some time to visit some other Cotswolds villages while you are there like Moreton-in-Marsh
- If you are staying locally book at taxi in advance, it’s one of the bad things about living in this area, taxis are hard to come by. Your hotel/b&b should be able to help you. Samples are given to drivers though
- Look for exclusives offers for visitors, and sign up to the newsletter for the updates as well as 10% off
Overall Experience 5⭐️
Tour de Gin 
I’ll certainly be visiting after reading this! Lovely blog, Helen. x
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