Whisky of the Week: Guy Ritchie x Chase present ‘Rosemaund Farm Whisky’

Guy Ritchie is no stranger to good whisky. In The Man from U.N.C.L.E, the director had Henry Cavill raise a glass of Johnnie Walker Black Label atop an Italian rooftop. During The Gentlemen, Hugh Grant helps himself to a dram of Glenfarclas 1976 ‘Grant Edition’. And, in that film’s sequel series, Theo James decants a Dalmore 25 with similarly suave, spirited gusto. As for the next bottle to feature in a Ritchie flick? It’ll likely be from Rosemaund Farm.

Owned by the Chase family — they of the award-winning vodka — the first whisky from the Herefordshire farm is a 10-year-old single malt, made using heritage Maris Otter barley and crafted by spirit industry heavyweight, Tristan Stephenson. Ritchie came on board as a shareholder in 2024, after being introduced to James Dashwood Chase.

“I was introduced to the Chase family at Rosemaund Farm by my business partner, the restaurateur Leonid Shutov,” Ritchie tells us, “and I was drawn to the family’s adventurous spirit and British values, rooted in tradition and farming culture. I first developed a strong interest in whisky around 2010, when I took over The Punch Bowl pub [in Mayfair]. Since then, I have been open to the right opportunity to become part of a brand that is redefining the space.”

The new spirit — and Rosemaund Farm itself — may feature in Ritchie’s upcoming projects, but only 2,500 bottles of Rosemaund Farm Whisky will be available for general purchase (through a special ballot system that launches this week). And Ritchie tells Gentleman’s Journal that, aside from up on the silver screen, his favourite place to see and sip a whisky is at its source.

“If there is a best time and place to drink whisky, it’s at the distillery,” the director explains. “In the cask warehouse and straight from the cask — cask strength. The space is filled with the aroma and feel of it. There’s nothing quite like it. It took me back to trips to the Highlands and the distilleries there, sampling liquids that have been curated for decades. It’s a deeply emotive experience.”

“The best time and place to drink whisky is at the distillery…”

But how emotive is the experience of tasting Rosemaund Farm Whisky for the first time? Treated to an exclusive tasting of the latest Chase family launch, the first thing we noted of the spirit was how handsome it looked. Not only does the label evoke the distinctive frontage of Rosemaund Farm, and the stout barrel-shaped bottle offer a new silhouette for your back bar, but the liquid itself is deeper than many first-run releases from debut English whisky makers. Even at first glance, it smoulders with a richness and complexity of character — but this shouldn’t come as a surprise, given the involvement of a storyteller like Ritchie.

On the nose, it’s warming — and unmistakably English. Think bucolic thickets of oak and meadowsweet, or a tea-adjacent plateful of malted biscuits. There’s the cake-y, wintry wisp of cinnamon and nutmeg, and a hint of tart apple. The palate furthers this refined dryness, sprinkling coarse black pepper spice and ginger heat across the tongue, before reintroducing a touch of that sweet malt. And then the finish takes its time, offering hedgerow fruits and a snifter of tobacco, and drawing to a languorous, earthy close.

Like any whisky tasting, the whole experience takes you on a journey — one, as with a film, with a distinct beginning, middle, and end. Yet, unlike a heavy, smoky Scotch, or a barnstorming, block-busting bourbon from the US, this is identifiably a whisky from Chase and Ritchie’s green and pleasant England: sharply presented, unabashedly bold of character, and enigmatic to the end.

Rosemaund Farm Whisky

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