Sie zählen beide für viele zu den herausragenden Destillerien in England: Die Spirit of Yorkshire Distillery mit ihrem Filey Bay Whisky und die Cooper King Distillery – beide in Yorkshire beheimatet und nun durch ein gemeinsames Projekt verbunden: Der Many Hands ist ein Yorkshire Blended Whisky mit Liquid, das aus beiden stammt – und vor allem aus der Freundschaft zwischen den beiden Teams.

Seine Geschichte beginnt nämlich mit einer Panne und der daraus resultierenden Zusammenarbeit: Als 2021 die Brennblase der Cooper King Distillery unerwartet für Reparaturen nach Tasmanien geschickt werden musste, stand die Brennerei neun Monate lang still – eine kleine Katastrophe, denn ein Produktionsausfall ist für so eine kleine Destillerie existenzbedrohend. Die Gründer Chris und Dr. Abbie Jaume suchten Hilfe bei ihren Nachbarn von Spirit of Yorkshire Distillery. Und weil in der Whiskyindustrie bei allem Konkurrenzkampf auch immer das Verbindende vorherrscht, wenn es nötig ist, destillierten die Spirit of Yorkshire Distillery einen Rohbrand, der später getrennt in identischen Fasstypen reifte.

Jetzt wurden diese Fässer der Nachbarschaftshilfe mit den eigenen zu einem gemeinsamen Produkt zusammengeführt: Many Hands. Der Name Many Hands ist also mehr als nur ein Titel: Er ist ein Symbol dafür, dass man gemeinsam auch Krisen überwinden kann, wenn viele Hände zusammenhelfen.

Hier die offizielle Aussendung zum Yorkshire Blended Whisky Many Hands, von dem wir hoffen und annehmen, dass er auch nach Deutschland kommen wird:

MANY HANDS: COOPER KING DISTILLERY AND SPIRIT OF YORKSHIRE DISTILLERY CREATE FIRST YORKSHIRE BLENDED MALT WHISKY

New limited edition whisky to be released on Thursday 16 July. Collaboration is a first for English whisky and unusual in its level of transparency.

YORK, JULY 2026: Two Yorkshire distilleries are preparing to release a collaborative whisky in a highly unusual move that captures the camaraderie and transparency of the new world whisky category.

Back in 2021, the Tasmanian copper pot still at Cooper King Distillery developed a fault and had to be sent away for repairs. The resulting 9-month pause in production would have created a large gap in mature stock in the years to come, disastrous for the young distillery. Chris and Abbie Jaume, founders of Cooper King, decided to reach out to Spirit of Yorkshire Distillery to ask their neighbours to help fill the gap.

Dr Abbie Jaume explains

“It’s a little-discussed fact that distilleries have been buying and selling spirit amongst themselves to meet production shortfalls for years. Traditionally it’s been bottled under the original brand, with consumers none the wiser. But this struck us as a chance to turn a tricky situation into an opportunity to get to know our nearest distilling neighbours better. Many hands make light work. Collaborations have enhanced the craft beer industry for ages, it felt high time the whisky industry embraced this ethos.”

Abbie joined Whisky Director at Spirit of Yorkshire, Joe Clark, for a day’s distilling at their site. Spirit of Yorkshire Distillery are well-known for their emphasis on regenerative farming at their Hunmanby Grange farm, which supplies both their brewery, Wold Top, and the distillery. That commitment to sustainable, traceable production tied in perfectly with Cooper King’s own environmental focus, for which the distillery has won multiple awards.

Back at Cooper King Distillery, the spirit was filled into four different cask types and left to rest. Four years on and the whisky is mature. Eight of the casks of the original Spirit of Yorkshire whisky have been married with eight casks of Cooper King whisky – from exactly the same cask types.

Joe Clark said

“It was a straight-forward decision for us to help out a fellow distillery in need, especially a neighbour. Although it’s rare to see an open collaboration, it’s not surprising to us – behind the scenes this industry is one of the most collegiate and cooperative in the world, it’s time we showed that side to whisky drinkers.”

Each bottle will clearly lay out the dual provenance of the whisky, and feature a QR code linked to the full technical details on Cooper King’s Spirit Specifics page at cooperkingdistillery.com/spirit-specifics.

Many Hands is bottled at 48% abv and is a limited release of 1922 bottles, priced at £95. It is available to buy directly from Cooper King Distillery and through selected whisky retailers across the UK. Additionally, £1 from each bottle sold will be donated to the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust’s Rural Apprenticeships programme, investing in jobs and skills training to protect the beautiful Yorkshire countryside.

TASTING NOTES

Nose: Honeycomb, peach cobbler, blackcurrant leaf
Palate: Biscuit, toasted cashews, cracked black pepper
Finish: Toasted rye bread with butter and honey

Cask Types: The release comprises 16 100-litre casks sourced from MB Roland Distillery in Kentucky, half filled with Cooper King spirit, half filled with Spirit of Yorkshire spirit.

6 x Dark-fired Bourbon casks
4 x first-fill Bourbon casks
4 x rye whiskey casks
2 x corn whiskey casks