Casks maturing in the open air at Fanny's Distillery

The story of Fanny's Distillery

We mash the grains, run slow fermentations and extract the pure alcohol by hand, one careful step at a time. Only then do we fill each bottle.

Marcus tending the Arnold Holstein copper still at Fanny's Distillery — Marcus and Fanny, mid-adjustment.

Forty years in the making

It all began back in 1983. Joshua Tetley in Leeds took me on as a junior brewer, to develop a micro-brewery pilot scheme across four of their pubs. Nobody was doing that then. For a brewery that size, it was a genuine novelty.

After a detour into wholesale seafood, the beverage trade pulled me back. In 1996 I bought a closed-down pet shop in Saltaire and gambled on turning it into a real ale pub. Fifteen months and a stack of objections later, I pulled my first pint at Fanny's Ale House, named for Fanny Street around the corner.

After many happy years behind that bar, and a Bradford CAMRA Pub of the Year award, I sold up, bought my very own distillery, and never looked back. The rest is history…

Forty years, five chapters

1983
Joshua Tetley, Leeds
Junior brewer on a pioneering micro-brewery pilot scheme across four Tetley pubs.
1996
Fanny's Ale House, Saltaire
A closed-down pet shop becomes one of Saltaire's best-loved real ale pubs, in what is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
2010
CAMRA Pub of the Year
Bradford CAMRA crowns Fanny's Ale House its Pub of the Year.
2013
The distillery
The pub years give way to spirits: an artisan distillery on the moors above Haworth, and an Arnold Holstein still named Fanny.
Today
The Green Monkey range
Whisky, gin and absinthe collecting gold, silver and bronze at the world's leading competitions.

Our Distilling Process

Heads, hearts & tails

Alcohol boils at exactly 78.37°C. A spirit safe splits each distillation into three cuts, and knowing exactly where one ends and the next begins is everything.

CUT I

Heads

Fiery in nature with a real kick, and potentially toxic. We cut these away without hesitation.

CUT II

Hearts

The prize. Pure, clean spirit, and the only fraction that ever makes it into a Green Monkey bottle.

CUT III

Tails

Oily and bitter, rancid at the extreme end. We catch and discard these before they can do harm.

This is all down to judgement, experience, taste and craftsmanship. There is no equipment substitute.Marcus, Founder & Distiller

The Kit & The Craft

An Arnold Holstein still and our own spring

Fanny, our Arnold Holstein copper column still, can produce several types of spirit, and she shares the building with a 1,000-litre mash tun and our own spring water source.

Botanicals are sourced locally and from trusted UK wholesalers, rigorously inspected and graded. Every grain comes from traditional maltsters within fifty miles of the distillery.