After a three-year hiatus from new releases, East London Liquor Co. has unveiled East London Threads: Blended Whisky, a collaboration with Compass Box founder John Glaser that reimagines what British whisky can be. The new expression combines East London’s grain-to-glass whiskies with selected Loch Lomond single malts, creating what the company calls a “wildly drinkable” blend that bridges tradition and innovation.
East London Liquor Co. Partners with John Glaser
The London-based distillery enlisted John Glaser, who founded Compass Box over 20 years ago, to guide the development of this new release. According to Alex Wolpert, East London’s founder, the collaboration aimed to make their whisky “as smashable and exciting as possible.”
“My role was to help Alex and Sam bring clarity to their vision and support the creative process, from defining what they wanted the whisky to say, to how they could get there,” Glaser said. “What they’ve made is bold, delicious, and refreshingly unpretentious – a whisky with real soul and purpose.”
The blend combines multiple East London expressions with two unpeated Scottish single malts from Loch Lomond. The breakdown includes East London pilsner malt, their signature East London Rye, and various peated and unpeated malts aged in different cask types. The majority of the blend consists of Loch Lomond whiskies, making up 69% of the total composition.
Official tasting notes describe chocolate-dipped strawberries, cherry blossom, and wood smoke on the nose. The palate features rum and raisin, white peach, and dried banana, finishing with honey flapjack and golden syrup.
East London Liquor Co. Shifts to Nomadic Production Model
After a decade at Bow Wharf, East London has relocated to a new facility on Mentmore Terrace in London Fields. The space includes a custom lab, whisky blending room, and training facilities for industry professionals.
More notably, the company has adopted what Wolpert calls a “nomadic production model.” Rather than maintaining their own distillery, East London will work with partner facilities to produce spirits while keeping their production team and expertise in-house.
“In the current economic climate where overheads and labour costs are only going one way, the sustainable model for us as an indie producer is to retain our production team and all their expertise in house and be nomadic in our distilling locations,” Wolpert explained.
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Sam Garbutt, East London’s head of whisky, emphasized the company’s commitment to transparency by publishing the complete blend breakdown: “There’s no point innovating for innovation’s sake; beyond his vast knowledge, what I valued most in working with John was his calm, thoughtful focus on our brief. Publishing the blend breakdown was important to us too – total transparency. I want people to pull it apart and figure out what does what… or not, and just enjoy the whisky.”
East London Threads: Blended Whisky will for £42 and be available through the East London Liquor Co. webshop beginning October 13.
