London's historic docks celebrated in new single malt whisky release

• The London Distillery Company launches Embarque

The London Distillery Company (TLDC) is proud to unveil its second single malt whisky: Embarque – a sherry-forward single malt tribute to London’s historic docks and the centuries-old trade that carried casks from Spain’s bodegas to the city’s maritime heart.

The London Dock in Wapping opened in 1805 and immediately became synonymous with luxury imports. Its vast warehouse complexes, underground wine vaults, and specialist facilities could handle thousands of casks at once. Here, sherry casks from Spain were unloaded, inspected, stored, blended, and bottled. The scale was immense: by the 1850s, exports of sherry from Jerez had grown to more than 30,000 casks a year, demanding ever larger bodegas in Spain and ever more extensive warehousing in London. Whilst these casks were initially used to transport the sherry, whisky merchants soon discovered the transformative effects of the time the sherry had spent in contact with the wood – and once emptied, many of these well-travelled vessels then went on to find a second life in whisky maturation.

Embarque continues this story. Rich with the influence of sherry wood, yet bold with the spirit of London craftsmanship, the expression stands as a testament not only to the transformative power of sherry cask maturation but also to the trans-Iberian shipping routes that once brought thousands of these casks into London’s historic docks, and in doing so, reshaped both the future of whisky and the capital itself.

Embarque will be released on Friday 3rd October at an RRP of £89.95 and will be available directly from The London Distillery Company’s website. 

The new London single malt, showcasing a striking stylised depiction of the London Docks, has been crafted from hand-selected TLDC single malts, first matured in refill barrels before being finished in exceptional first-fill oloroso sherry casks from Bodegas Barbadillo. These seasoned casks have lent TLDC’s heritage grain-led spirit remarkable depth and oxidative complexity - the dialogue between Spain and London revealing layers of concentrated dried fruit, nuts, and spice, while preserving the whisky’s core character.

Speaking of the release, TLDC Managing Director & Whisky Maker Matt McKay said: “Embarque represents a deliberate step in how we’re building The London Distillery Company’s whisky profile. By selecting refill casks for the primary maturation, we preserved the clarity of our heritage grain spirit, and the finishing period in first-fill oloroso sherry casks from Barbadillo has added structure, weight, and oxidative richness without masking the underlying DNA of the whisky. This release demonstrates our commitment to combining precision cask management with respect for the traditions that underpinned the creation of the original TLDC spirit, Spanish coopering, and the pivotal role the London docks once played in bringing these worlds together.”

Earlier this year, The London Distillery Company signalled its rebirth with the launch of Renascence – “The Revival Release.” Crafted from Plumage Archer heritage barley and matured in a marriage of refill barrels and first-fill sherry casks, the release of 410 bottles sold out in under 24 hours.