Samuel Gulliver & Co., the award-winning whisky company, has signed a long term, worldwide Licensing Agreement with the RFU to become The Official Whisky of England Rugby, which will see them launch a range of English single malts reflecting the passion and camaraderie shared by the England team and its fans.

The launch expression, Samuel Gulliver & Co.’s England’s No.6, is a single malt English whisky distilled at The St.George’s Distillery in Norfolk, aged for 6 years and finished in ex-rum casks. It is a celebration of the finest No.6s to have pulled on the famous white jersey with the red rose.  From ‘Cherry’ Pillman and Dick Greenwood to Mickey Skinner and Richard Hill, England have produced some of the finest back row forwards in the world.

The agreement with the RFU gives Samuel Gulliver & Co. access to player imagery as well as the famous red rose logo for use on product, social media and marketing purposes.

Stuart Gulliver, Director of Samuel Gulliver & Co. said ‘We are truly delighted and honoured that an English brand such as ours with a history going back over 200 years, has teamed up with such an iconic sporting organisation as England Rugby.  We share the same ideals and are both passionate and committed to be the best in our fields.’

Tom Heeks, Licencing Manager at the RFU commented ‘This is the first time we’ve licensed an Official Whisky of England Rugby and Samuel Gulliver & Co as an independent bottler of premium English whisky are a perfect partner’ 

The first release launches with an RRP for £69.00 and will be available on a pre-release allocation to RFU members first in Dec, then become more widely available through online and retail specialists in February 2022.

French distributor BBC Spirits has bolstered its portfolio with several UK spirits brands as it bids to drive growth in 2021.

The Bordeaux-based importer has tied up long-term agreements with gin producers Masons of Yorkshire, McQueen Gin and Salcombe Distilling Co., plus Gulliver’s Whisky.

Greg Kimber, who joined BBC Spirits as sales director for UK and Ireland last year, was instrumental in setting up these distribution agreements.

He said: “I am absolutely delighted that we will be working closely together with all our new British spirit partners, in what has been an incredibly difficult time for the hospitality sector over the past 12 months due to the pandemic. Brexit, which started in January, was not going to frighten us away from exploring new and exciting partnerships with these award-winning, world class spirit producers.

“All at BBC Spirits are 100% committed to ensuring this new partnership is a huge success and that you will soon see all these brands throughout mainland Europe. We will start importing these brands as of March 2021.”

Stu Gulliver, co-founder of Gulliver’s Whisky, added: “The Covid-19 pandemic has been a particularly challenging time for everyone in the UK drinks and hospitality industry, us included.

“Yet we decided early in the first lockdown of 2020, that it was important to continue to invest in our brand and develop our business. Our newly signed partnership with BBC Spirits is exciting for us and the perfect way for us to build our brand with our friends in Europe.

“BBC Spirits have an amazing portfolio of world brands and their network is unrivalled, with a very impressive track record.”

BBC Spirits was founded in 2010. It specialises in gin, rum, whisk(e)y, vodka, sake, shochu, liquor, awamori and brandy, with a particular focus on Japenese spirits.

Samuel Gulliver & Co have collaborated with The Cotswolds Distillery to launch a new English single malt, single cask whisky under their Gulliver’s 47 brand.

This 5yr old unpeated expression is matured in STR casks, referring to ‘shaved, toasted and re-charred’ ex-red wine, American oak casks. Before maturation, these high quality casks have quite literally been shaved to reveal fresh oak, then toasted and re-charred to maximize the extraction of flavour and colour.

Stuart Gulliver, a 9th generation descendent of the original founder, says ‘we’ve really gone back to our roots through this collaboration with The Cotswolds Distillery, which is just down the road from where Samuel Gulliver started his business in Banbury in 1747. The influence of fresh and used oak from the STR cask combines to produce a stunning whisky of rich fruits with toasty and warming spicy notes’.

Gulliver’s launch a 10 year old English single malt matured in red wine quarter casks. Read more over on our Brands page here.

The Whisky Baron Youtube channel features reviews, tours and interviews with industry figures. See what they have to say about Gulliver’s 47 below:

Look out for tastings of Gulliver’s 47 at Whisky Shops throughout the country.  Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to keep up to date with where and when.

Gulliver’s 47 won the Gold Medal in The Luxury Masters (The Spirits Business) World Whisky 2019