Most people know Ricky Gervais as the guy who created The Office or the comedian who makes Hollywood celebrities squirm at the Golden Globes. What fewer people know is that he's been quietly involved in something a little more serious — a Yorkshire distillery that just released its first single malt whisky.
Ellers Farm Distillery, based in Stamford Bridge in North Yorkshire, launched its debut English whisky this year under the name Three Ridings. The name itself comes from the old administrative divisions of Yorkshire — the East, North and West Ridings — which gives you a sense right away that this isn't just a celebrity vanity project slapped with a famous name and shipped out the door.
How It Started
The distillery was founded in 2021 by Chris Fraser. Before getting into whisky, Ellers Farm had already built up a decent reputation making Dutch Barn Vodka, Y-Gin, and a range of liqueurs. They also picked up another gin brand, 6 O'Clock, last year. So they weren't newcomers to spirits when they decided to take on the far more demanding challenge of making whisky.
Fraser has said the whisky journey started about three years ago, and it was built on more than 200 years of collective experience in growing, malting and brewing Yorkshire barley. That's not a number they pulled out of thin air — it comes from the fact that Ellers Farm didn't try to do everything themselves. They brought in partners who had been doing parts of this process for generations.
Fraser put it plainly: "Three Ridings didn't start with a marketing brief. It started with the question: how do we make the best possible single malt in Yorkshire that can stand alongside the very best in the world?"
That's either a bold statement or an honest one. Given the way this whole project was put together, it sounds more like the latter.
Three Yorkshire Businesses, One Bottle
What makes Three Ridings genuinely interesting — more interesting than the celebrity angle, honestly — is the way it was made. Rather than building every part of the process in-house, Ellers Farm reached out to two other established Yorkshire businesses and built a proper collaboration.
The malting side of things was handled by Thomas Fawcett and Sons, based in Castleford. Fawcett's is one of those companies that most whisky drinkers have probably never heard of, but the industry certainly has. They've been malting grain for a very long time, and their involvement here isn't decorative — they're responsible for how the barley is prepared before anything else happens.
The brewing of the wash — the beer-like liquid that eventually gets distilled into whisky — was done with T&R Theakston, the brewery in Masham that's been making Yorkshire beer for close to 200 years. Theakston is a name that will ring a bell for anyone who's spent time in a decent English pub. Their Old Peculier ale is the kind of thing that sticks in the memory.
Simon Theakston, the brewery's chairman, spoke about what the project meant to them: "The development of Three Ridings single malt whisky has been a wonderful adventure, shared with our supremely talented partners, Ellers Farm Distillery and Thomas Fawcett and Sons, building on our near 200 years of brewing the finest Yorkshire beer here in Masham."
He added that developing the wash for a malt whisky is a natural extension of what the brewery already does every day, and that they couldn't be more proud of their association with the finished product.
That kind of language from a brewer with that kind of history carries weight. Theakston's aren't a company that throws words like "proud" around lightly.
How the Whisky Was Actually Made
The production details here are worth paying attention to, because they reveal a level of intent that goes beyond what you'd expect from a brand-new distillery's first release.
The team used deliberately long fermentations. In whisky making, fermentation time matters more than most people realize. Longer fermentation generally means more complex flavor compounds develop before the liquid even touches a still. Most commercial operations keep fermentations short because time is money. Ellers Farm went the other direction.
Distillation was tuned specifically to smooth out harsh edges without stripping away character. This is a genuinely difficult balance to strike, and it's something that experienced distillers spend years figuring out. The goal is to cut away the rough stuff while keeping the interesting stuff.
Maturation was done in ex-Bourbon American oak casks, which were chosen carefully for what they'd bring to the whisky rather than what they cost. Ex-Bourbon casks are the standard choice for many Scotch distilleries because they're readily available and tend to add vanilla and caramel notes without overwhelming the spirit underneath. The fact that the Ellers Farm team specifically said these casks were selected for their flavor contribution is a signal that they weren't just buying whatever was cheapest.
The team described their approach as one where "every decision is made with transparency and intention." In an industry where marketing language can obscure more than it reveals, that's a refreshing thing to say — and even more refreshing if it turns out to be true.
What It Actually Tastes Like — Or Rather, What They Won't Tell You
Here's something unusual. Three Ridings is being presented without tasting notes. No technical claims. No flavor wheel. No flowery descriptions about "hints of dried fruit with a long warming finish."
The decision was deliberate. The brand wants the focus to be on how and why the whisky was made, and on the people who came together to make it. They're essentially asking drinkers to approach the bottle without preconceptions, which is either genuinely admirable or a clever piece of marketing — possibly both.
For those who like to know what they're getting before they spend money on a bottle, this might be frustrating. For those who are tired of reading the same recycled adjectives on whisky labels, it might come as a relief.
The Documentary
Alongside the whisky launch, Ellers Farm released a four-part documentary series that goes inside the making of Three Ridings. It's available on the brand's YouTube channel and other digital platforms.
The series is structured to mirror the production process. The first episode, titled "How Great Whisky Begins: The Maltster," focuses on Thomas Fawcett and Sons. The second, "Beer, Not Wash: The Brewer's Role in Whisky," covers Theakston's contribution. The third episode, "Where Character Is Refined: The Distiller," takes viewers inside Ellers Farm itself. The final episode, "Three Makers, One Whisky," brings it all together with a focus on the finished product.
It's a smart piece of storytelling. Whether you end up buying the whisky or not, the documentary makes a genuine case for why this kind of regional collaboration matters. There's something to be said for three businesses in the same county each bringing their specific expertise to a single bottle.
Getting Your Hands on One
The first release comes in at 57.9% ABV, which is cask strength territory — meaning it hasn't been watered down before bottling. That's a statement of confidence in the spirit itself. Plenty of distilleries dilute to a standard 40% or 46% because it's easier and more accessible. Going to full cask strength means the distillery believes what's in the cask is worth tasting exactly as it is.
Only 1,000 bottles were made for this first release, each individually numbered. The way to secure one is through purchasing what Ellers Farm calls the Evolution Collection, available on their website. The Evolution Collection traces the distillery's new make spirit from its earliest stage through to 24 months of maturation — essentially a record of the whisky's development over time. It's designed to help buyers understand where Three Ridings came from and what went into it.
That kind of release structure is unusual. Most distilleries just sell bottles. The evolution angle suggests Ellers Farm is thinking about building a community of people who are genuinely interested in the craft, not just picking up a bottle because it has a familiar name on it.
Where Ricky Gervais Fits In
Gervais joined Ellers Farm as co-owner back in November 2023. His involvement isn't decorative — he's a genuine partner in the business. But the way the project has been put together makes it clear that this is Fraser's vision and Ellers Farm's craft. Gervais is a shareholder, not a distiller.
What he does bring is reach. His name is known far beyond the world of spirits, and his involvement will put Three Ridings in front of audiences who might never have heard of a distillery in Stamford Bridge.
He's also, by all accounts, genuinely enthusiastic about what the team has built. He said: "I love working with people who care more about doing something properly than doing it quickly. Three Ridings is the result of the pursuit of excellence, and I am very proud of what we have created."
That's a straightforward thing to say. There's no exaggeration in it, and no obvious marketing spin. It sounds like someone who actually means what they're saying.
Why This Matters Beyond the Celebrity Angle
English whisky is still a young category. Scotland has centuries of tradition behind it. Ireland has its own deeply rooted culture. America has bourbon. England, by contrast, is still figuring out what it wants to be.
What Ellers Farm is attempting with Three Ridings is worth watching regardless of whether the whisky itself turns out to be excellent. The approach — deep regional collaboration, respect for established local expertise, long production timelines, cask strength bottling, no tasting notes, a documentary instead of a press release — points toward a kind of whisky making that takes the craft seriously from the ground up.
Whether Yorkshire can produce a single malt that genuinely stands alongside the best in the world remains to be seen. Fraser set that bar himself, and it's a high one. But the seriousness of purpose behind this first release suggests that the question is worth asking — and that the people asking it are the right ones to try and answer it.
For anyone who cares about where their whisky comes from and how it got into the bottle, Three Ridings is one to watch.
