Cotswolds Distillery raises £1.5m for expansion

The Cotswolds Distillery has raised £1.5 million, just one month after launching its crowdfunding campaign, to help fund its expansion ahead of the launch of the Cotswolds’ first ever single malt whisky.

The Cotswolds Distillery was founded in 2014 by Daniel Szor

Funds raised will be used for a new bottling hall to help launch the distillery’s inaugural whisky – the first-ever whisky made in the Cotswolds – as well as a larger visitor centre.

The distillery’s flagship product – Cotswolds Single Malt Whisky – will be launched in October after three years in production. Made from locally-sourced barley, the English malt whiskey scored 94 out of 100 points from whisky writer Jim Murray in both the 2016 and 2017 editions of his Whisky Bible. The inaugural release, which is limited to 4,000 bottles, has already sold out online.

The distillery also produces a Cotswolds Dry Gin using nine botanicals, including juniper, coriander seed, angelica root, lavender, bay leaves, zest of pink grapefruits and limes, cardamom seeds and black pepper corns. .

“We are overjoyed by this great vote of confidence in the company,” said founder and CEO Daniel Szor of the investment.

“Our ambitious plans for the future can now be realised thanks to the fantastic investor demand we’ve seen in this recent round. Premium spirits is an exciting and fast-growing sector, and we believe the opportunities for such a progressive brand, like The Cotswolds Distillery, are limitless.”

The distillery represents a total investment of £5 million, since it was founded in 2014, with funds sourced from Szor, his family and local investors.

Last year the distillery expanded its investor base through its £1 million Angels’ Share crowdfunding campaign, to over 100 new backers. This latest equity round was raised entirely from the existing investor bank, which the distillery said “reflects confidence in the brand’s rapid recent growth and performance”.