It was blisteringly hot.
30 degrees in the shade. And there wasn’t much of that.
But that didn’t deter her.
Because at Groundswell* this summer, Ella, Wylde’s brilliant co-founder, took one for the team.
In the corner of one of the Hertfordshire festival’s baked-dry-as-a-bone fields was a chap with a stall. He happened to be quite a tall, good looking chap, but I’m fairly sure that’s not relevant here.
Anyway, he beckoned Ella over to his stall with a languorous wave of his large hand and – ever the people-pleaser – she complied.
It turned out that he was sampling whisky. And not just any whisky. But an English whisky made from regeneratively farmed rye, wheat and barley.
So what’s a girl to do, notwithstanding the sweltering heat?
The polite thing, of course. She’s been properly brought up, after all. She tasted the whisky. And then she tasted it again. And again, just to be sure.
The next thing I know, up she tips with the broadest of smiles, a slightly redder face and the magic words:
‘I’ve got Christmash shorted’.
You know what? She really did. Because Ella really does know her whiskies**.
And it’s the combination of her tasting expertise and her perspicaciousness back in that hot July that means that right now – in these dark, short days of December –we can offer you this outstanding English whisky.
I gave a bottle to my Dad for his birthday. He’s not the sort of chap to leave one wondering what he thinks about something. Or anything, for that matter. And he LOVED it.
Over to you.
Nick
PS – remember that the Christmas Market shuts tomorrow. The weekly market can be found here.
*Groundswell is the annual coming together of the Regenerative Farming world. It’s like Glastonbury for those us who care about this sort of thing. Insightful, life-affirming and generally just lot of fun, do join us next year if you can.
**I’ve seen her match a Scotsman glass for glass in the Isle of Skye. No mean feat.