Wicstun Distillery is expanding and developing its first Yorkshire rum
Lisa Packer, director of Wicstun Distillery, Market Weighton, who died suddenly last year(Image: wicstun-distillery.co.uk)
It is very much a family business, partly reflected in the fact its stills are named after relatives and friends, but Wicstun Distillery is only just kicking back into gear after losing one of the people closest to its operation. Lisa Packer’s sudden and unexpected death last summer left the team at the Market Weighton distillery reeling.
Lisa was not only a director of the company but also the wife of fellow director and head distiller Jago Packer. Her death last June – “we were literally booking a holiday one minute, the next she had collapsed” – had a profound impact on the family and the day-to-day running of the distillery.
As a result, many of the plans and developments scheduled for 2025 were placed on hold while the business took time to grieve, reflect and regain its footing. Jago said only the absolute essentials were kept going.
The outlook for 2026, however, has been far more positive for the company. Jago and the Wicstun team have spent the past few months putting into action the plans and ideas that he and his wife had set out at the start of last year.
One of the first steps was to increase storage capacity at the distillery, which in 2024 famously partnered with Sophie Ellis Bextor in launching the singer’s new limited edition rosé wine, Rosé On The Dancefloor. The collaboration with the star still continues, as does production of a special Toffee Vodka that Wicstun first created for Sophie’s husband Richard Jones’ band, The Feeling.
Sights are set on doubling Wicstun’s output, having installed a new storage room and reorganised the distillery so it can work more efficiently. The work also made room for a new still – there is already one called Lisa, this latest addition is named after the Packers’ son, Alex – which was delivered in early April.
The company has also installed two large fermentation tanks, allowing the team to produce raw spirit from scratch. Successfully securing an additional licensing grant from HMRC means Wicstun can expand its production further into creating its own Yorkshire rum.
Jago said: “We’ve been selling rum for a couple of years but it comes from the Caribbean, a white rum, and we work with that. I always wanted to be able to say we had made our own rum, in Yorkshire, from scratch.
“Lisa and I had been on holiday in Gran Canaria a couple of years ago and we visited a rum distillery where we tried some rum matured in sherry casks. She said, ‘we need to do this one day’.”
As it is, Wicstun has been able to source refurbished sherry and bourbon casks from a cooper’s at Sutton Bank, also in Yorkshire, and Wicstun spirit will be matured in a selection of these over the coming months. “I’m not sure when the first rum will be ready – the length of the maturation is up to us,” Jago said.
“The big casks in which single-malt whisky is matured hold 200 litres; our casks are smaller, at 50 litres, so the process should be quicker, possibly something like six to 12 months. It will be a case of us sampling it and deciding when we have to bottle it.
“It’s intended as more of a premium spirit. It should get a really nice flavour from the sherry and bourbon casks.”
The additional space and equipment have allowed the team to increase production of some of their most popular products, including their famous Toffee Vodka and Scarborough Gin. The year has also brought a new look for the brand, with the distillery introducing updated bottle designs based on an idea that Lisa developed in early 2025.
Jago said: “Lisa had another job but was planning to come over to the distillery business full-time towards the end of last year. That’s what she was working towards.
“My wife’s best friend, Barbara, works with me now – she made a promise to Lisa in the hospital that she would look after me and she works in the distillery a couple of days a week. I wouldn’t have been able to manage without Barbara and we’ve worked together to get the distillery back on track.”
The team have been working with Pickering Town Community Interest Company, in North Yorkshire, on a gin made with watercress from a Pickering farm and cucumbers grown and donated by residents, with donations from sales of the bottles being ploughed back into projects for the town, such as its 1940s weekend. Wicstun continues to look ahead to an exciting and busy year, with plans to introduce customers to the new bottle designs as well as several new flavours.
Wicstun Distillery will be at events across East and North Yorkshire throughout the summer. There is a small shop at the distillery and people can also arrange group tours by appointment, for a charge.
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