A small but serious distillery tucked along the edge of one of England's most protected natural landscapes has brought on a new leader to guide it through one of the most consequential stretches in its short history. Lancaster Spirits Co. has appointed Craig Drake as its Distillery Manager, a move that sets the stage for the release of the company's first single malt whisky in 2027.
For a distillery that only opened its doors in 2022, the appointment signals real momentum — and a clear declaration that Lancaster Spirits Co. is not just another craft operation chasing trends. It is building toward something with patience and precision, and it now has the personnel to match that ambition.
A Setting That Shapes the Spirit
Lancaster Spirits Co. — known among enthusiasts simply as LSCo — sits on the edge of the Forest of Bowland, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty just outside the historic city of Lancaster in England's northwest. The geography is not incidental. It is foundational.
The distillery draws its water from an 80-meter-deep artesian well dug directly on the property. That water travels through layers of slate and limestone before it ever reaches the stillroom, arriving naturally filtered and carrying the mineral character of the land above it. In a business where water quality touches every stage of production, that is not a small detail.
The grain comes from wheat and rye sourced from farms across England, selected with care and combined using traditional mashing techniques. Fermentation is handled using a live yeast strain maintained by Lancaster Brewery — a strain that is more than 200 years old. That yeast, carrying two centuries of microbial memory, contributes directly to the complex flavor profiles the distillery has built its early reputation on.
Image credit: Lancaster Spirits Co.
LSCo operates alongside Lancaster Brewery, a multi-award-winning operation that lends both infrastructure and institutional knowledge to the spirits side of the business. The two run in parallel, each reinforcing the other.
What Makes This Place Different
Most distilleries at LSCo's scale purchase their neutral grain spirit from a supplier and work from there. Lancaster Spirits Co. does not. The team distills its own neutral grain spirit from scratch — starting by distilling beer — a rare practice that gives the company full control over the provenance and character of every spirit it produces.
Getting that process right took 27 experimental brews. That kind of investment in foundational infrastructure, before a single bottle reached a shelf, says something about how the company thinks about quality.
From there, the process remains almost defiantly manual. There is no automation in the brewery or the stillroom. Barley is milled fresh every day. Mash is turned by hand. Every batch goes through rigorous organoleptic testing before release, meaning the team is evaluating flavor, aroma, appearance, and mouthfeel with trained senses — not instruments alone.
Each batch takes roughly five weeks from start to finish. That pace is not inefficiency. It is the cost of doing things properly.
Drake's Road to Lancaster
Craig Drake did not set out to become a distiller. Like many of the most capable people in the craft spirits world, he found his way in through a door that was not originally marked for him.
After finishing university, Drake picked up agency work at Adnams Brewery in Suffolk, initially doing the unglamorous work of de-shiving casks. It was entry-level, physical labor — the kind of job that either sends a person in another direction or hooks them for life. For Drake, it was the latter.
Not long after starting at Adnams, he found himself helping to commission the Copper House Distillery, the distilling arm of the Adnams operation. He moved from cleaning stills to producing gin, and over the course of nine years built a body of work that included contributing to Copper House Gin and Longshore Vodka — both recognized by the International Wine and Spirits Competition, one of the industry's most respected evaluation bodies.
In his own words: "I came into the distilling industry by way of a happy accident. After university, I took on agency work at Adnams Brewery, initially de-shiving casks. Soon after, I was helping commission the Copper House Distillery, where I progressed from cleaning stills to producing gin."
From Adnams, Drake went on to hold roles at distilleries in Essex, then Bankhall Distillery — with operations in Blackpool and Cumbria — and eventually G&J Distillers, operating under the Quintessential Brands umbrella. G&J is one of the oldest and most established gin distilling operations in England, and working within that environment gave Drake exposure to large-scale production, the kind that demands consistency and technical discipline across every variable.
Across those roles, Drake developed expertise in fermentation science, distillation technique, cask management, and the operation of specialized stills. He brings a track record built in some of the more demanding corners of British spirits production.
What He Takes On at LSCo
As Distillery Manager, Drake now oversees production of all spirits at Lancaster Spirits Co. That includes the existing range of gins and vodkas — already carrying multiple award recognitions — and, most significantly, the single malt whisky programme that is working toward a 2027 release.
Image credit: Lancaster Spirits Co.
He steps into a role that puts him at the center of a genuinely consequential moment. The whisky that LSCo releases in 2027 will be the first statement the distillery makes in that category. There are no do-overs on a first expression. It defines how the market perceives the distillery's potential and how seriously buyers and collectors will take future releases.
Drake will also be working closely with Max McFarlane, who leads LSCo's long-term maturation strategy and is responsible for developing the expressions that will define the distillery's identity in the whisky world. McFarlane is described internally as one of the world's leading single malt whisky experts — a characterization that reflects the company's seriousness about getting its whisky programme right.
Drake made clear that the collaboration is a draw in itself: "I'm really looking forward to being part of Lancaster Spirits Company at such an exciting stage, and to working alongside one of the world's leading single malt whisky experts, Max McFarlane."
The View from Management
Christopher Pateman, who serves as Commercial Manager at LSCo, framed the appointment in terms of timing as much as qualifications.
"I'm really pleased Craig has joined the team at this point as we progress towards the release of our first single malt in 2027," Pateman said. "This is a rare opportunity, and one he has fully embraced, to be part of our story from the very beginning."
That phrase — from the very beginning — carries more weight than it might seem. The distillery is only a few years old. Its whisky is still maturing in cask. The decisions being made right now about production approach, cask selection, and maturation strategy will determine everything that goes into a bottle years from now. The person running the stillroom in 2024 is directly shaping what ends up in a glass in 2027 and beyond.
Being present at that stage is, by any measure, a rare professional position. For a distiller of Drake's background, it is also a chance to leave a lasting mark on something that does not yet have a finished identity.
What 2027 Could Mean
The single malt whisky category is not one that rewards shortcuts or impatience. Great whisky is made over years, not weeks, and the reputation of a distillery in that space takes just as long to establish. But when a distillery gets it right from the start — when the first release genuinely reflects care, craftsmanship, and a coherent vision — it creates the kind of credibility that no marketing budget can manufacture.
LSCo has laid the groundwork carefully. The water source is exceptional. The yeast strain is historically significant. The grain sourcing is deliberate. The production methods are fully hands-on. And now the team includes people with the technical depth to execute on all of it.
The 2027 release will be the first real test of whether those foundations hold. There is every reason, based on what the distillery has built so far, to think they will.
In the meantime, the gins and vodkas already in production continue to earn recognition and give the broader market a preview of what Lancaster Spirits Co. is capable of. For anyone who has not yet encountered the brand, a visit to the distillery — or a look at what they are currently offering — is a reasonable place to start.
The bigger story, though, is still being written in the cask room. And the man now responsible for seeing it through just arrived.
