Retribution Distilling is a small, grain-to-glass distillery run by Richard Lock from converted farm buildings at Holwell Farm, near Frome in Somerset. Lock came to distilling by an unusual route: Royal Navy service, marine navigation, diving work, then a distance-learning postgraduate diploma in Brewing and Distilling from Heriot-Watt University. What started as garden-shed experimentation is now a working distillery built around what Lock calls "genius loci": the idea that a spirit's flavour should be tied to the place it's made.
The Range
Retribution makes gin, vodka, rum and single-cask English whisky, all grain-to-glass on custom, direct-fired copper pot stills fabricated locally. Green malt comes weekly from Warminster Maltings, ten miles from the distillery, and there's an on-site peat kiln for the Somerset peated whisky. Batches are genuinely small; the largest run to date has been around 360 bottles.
New whiskies from Retribution Distilling are released regularly and will be available on Digital Distiller
Why We Love Retribution
Retribution is a fine example of the grain-to-glass discipline: sourcing malt from ten miles away, building their own stills, running a peat kiln on site. That's a lot of infrastructure for a distillery this size, and it shows in their whisky releases, in particular, which are highly accomplished and full of flavour. Batches are small enough that what you buy now may not be repeated in the same form. So grab them while you can!
Explore Further
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Retribution Distilling based?
At Holwell Farm near Frome, in Somerset. The distillery is run by founder Richard Lock, who converted farm buildings on the site to house custom-built copper pot stills.
What does "grain-to-glass" mean for Retribution?
It means the distillery controls the process from raw grain through to bottled spirit, rather than buying in neutral spirit or new-make from elsewhere. Green malt comes from Warminster Maltings nearby, and peated whisky uses malt smoked on Retribution's own peat kiln.
Is Retribution whisky Scotch-style or English?
It's English whisky, made and matured in Somerset. Releases so far have been single-cask, meaning each bottling comes from one individual cask rather than a blended batch, so character varies release to release.
How small are Retribution's batches?
Genuinely small. The largest run to date has been around 360 bottles, and some releases are considerably smaller, so availability changes quickly.
