White Peak

'Never Say Die' Bourbon at the Wire Works

June 2023

In the dim and distant past Johnson & Nephew used to ship their quality cable products to the USA. In the last year we’ve had some other quality product cover the reverse journey; in mid-2022 we welcomed 100 full barrels of Never Say Die bourbon into our warehouse at the Wire Works.

Never Say Die, is a Kentucky-born bourbon that, at the age of 5 years crossed the Atlantic in barrels to finish its maturation here in our Derbyshire warehouse.  Shipping bourbon in barrel across the open seas is very rare, and the ocean voyage plays its part in the final product.  Once further matured here in Ambergate, we’re bottling and labelling the bourbon before despatch to distributors and onto its final customer resting place.

The beauty for WPD of this collaboration with our friends at NSD is that, once the bourbon is dumped, we get to keep the super-fresh empty bourbon barrels to fill with our own single malt spirit.  Estimates are that 75+% of whisky maturing in the UK is in ex-bourbon barrels but we reckon the just-dumped freshness adds a little bit extra.  And the Never Say Die bourbon also happens to be rather nice….

We’ll be releasing a Wire Works Whisky matured in NSD barrels, once we’re happy the time’s right. In the meantime, we’ll occasionally pick our own barrel of NSD bourbon to bottle and sell at cask strength. Bottlings will be available in our Distillery shop, and online to mailing list subscribers through a direct link (you won’t find it on our website).

 

Find out more about here

Update Jan 2026 

Wire Works NSD Double Wood 

Wire Works Whisky NSD Double Wood is a single cask, double maturation of our core lightly-peated house style single malt — the same spirit that forms the backbone of the Wire Works Provenance range.

Presented as a single cask release, the whisky has spent equal time maturing in two exceptional ex-bourbon barrels (200L American standard barrels): directly sourced from Heaven Hills (Evan Williams) and Never Say Die (NSD). Each contributing equally to the final character.

This release marks two firsts for us:

• Our first single cask Bourbon Barrel available on general release
• Our first showcase of Never Say Die cask maturation

Double Wood Maturation

Built on our flavour-first approach, this whisky was first matured in a Heaven Hill ASB, as per our core Bourbon Barrel release. The transfer into a the freshly dumped Never Say Die ASB layers additional oak and bourbon influence while keeping the distillery’s character front and centre.

Ex-bourbon casks are often described as relatively ‘inactive’, making them ideal for showcasing a distillery’s true spirit character. In this case, the double maturation adds complexity — amplifying sweetness, tropical fruit, creamy vanilla and the subtle background peat that defines our Bourbon Barrel style with the addition of some extra spice; all adding extra depth, richness and intensity. The NSD bourbon, with a higher rye content than the Evan Williams, showing itself in the bottled whisky.

Bottled from a single cask at natural cask strength, Wire Works NSD Double Wood offers a rare and unfiltered insight into how our Bourbon Barrel spirit can evolves when given time, patience and consideration.