The cat & fiddle whisky distillery
Britains highest altitude whisky distillery
Join our Weasels every last Friday of the month for our Cocktail Club
Taking place in our cosy Distillery Bar at The Cat & Fiddle.
We will showcase different exclusive cocktails using our award winning spirits with a breakdown of the recipe so you can make them yourselves at home!
You will be treated to 3 fabulous cocktails on the way and some cheeky cocktail samples.
A few nibbles will be included; please contact events@theforestdistillery.com with any dietary requirements.
With the option to stay and enjoy some extra time in our Distillery bar and order more drinks of your own choosing.’ Book Now
Welcome to the Cat and Fiddle and Weasel. The UK’s highest Altitude Gin & Whisky Distillery.
We strive to make the best premium spirits overlooking the beautiful Peak District National Park. Let us welcome you to our incredible distillery by booking onto one of our Forest Distillery Tours. Now available to book every Saturday and Sunday!
We also have our lovely little distillery shop where you can come and pick up a bottle of your favourite Forest Gin or Forest Whisky
How about booking a table in our beautifully renovated Distillery bar. We advise booking as we have a small allocation of tables, and can’t always guarantee we will have spaces for walk-ins, so get in there quickly to avoid any disappointment. If you have any questions or queries then please get in touch with the weasels and we will help you have the best experience possible. We can’t wait to see you here.
if you are planning on popping in for a drink at the Cat & Fiddle distillery bar, due to the high demand, can we ask you to pre-book your table in advance to avoid disappointment.
Welcome to the Cat and Fiddle and Weasel. The UK’s highest Altitude Whisky Distillery.
We strive to make the best premium spirits overlooking the beautiful Peak District National Park. Let us welcome you to our incredible distillery by booking onto one of our Forest Whisky Distillery Tours. Now available to book every Saturday and Sunday!
We also have a food offering when joining us on a tour so don’t forget to add that option to your event. Then you can come and browse our Cat and Fiddle shop where you can pick up a bottle of your favourite Forest Gin or Forest Whisky.
How about booking a table in our beautifully renovated Distillery bar. We advise bookings as we have a small allocation of tables, and can’t always guarantee we will have spaces for walk-ins, so get in there quickly to avoid any disappointment. If you have any questions or queries then please get in touch with us weasels and we will help you have the best experience possible. We can’t wait to see you here.
if you are planning on popping in for a drink at the Cat & Fiddle distillery bar, due to the high demand, can we ask you to pre-book your table in advance to avoid disappointment.
Forest Whisky Distillery
Enjoy an informal, friendly tour around our whisky Distillery
The Forest Whisky Distillery is now based at the iconic Cat & Fiddle nestled in Macclesfield Forest. Surrounded by nature, and with our own ancient spring producing a constant supply of fresh water. Our distillery is a beautiful old building, daily distilling spirits of the very purest quality. This is where we make all of our Gin.
We have a bar within the distillery, which we open to the public most weekday afternoons. We’re occasionally hampered by snow and only have a very small team here, so it is always best to book before visiting.
We offer regular distillery tours at weekends and would love to host you here. Because of our size, we can only release a few tickets at a time and they do tend to sell out very fast.
the Forest whisky Distillery Bar
join us for Drink in the cat & fiddle distillery
Bar
Forest Bar opening times:
Monday to Thursday: Closed
Friday: 11am – 5pm
Saturday & Sunday 11am to 6pm
Tables must be booked in advance of your visit Book Now
The Cat & Fiddle Whisky Distillery tours
The Cat & Fiddle, sitting at 1689 feet, is Britain's highest altitude whisky Distillery
We’ve now completed the renovation of the old building and both distilleries are installed and operational creating our lovely Award Winning Forest Whisky & Forest Gin. If you would like to have a closer look at how we create our wonderful spirits then why not book a place on one of our hosted tours and tastings, run every week within the old pub. We also have a table to book if you just fancy a tipple.
Due to the high demand, all tables and events must be pre-booked using the links below.
the cat & Fiddle whisky Distillery tours
Why not join us for a talk & tour of the cat & fiddle whisky distillery
Tours available Saturdays & Sundays for more information Click Here
The Shop at the cat & fiddle
Come and have browse around our wonderful Shop & checkout our amazing selection of locally sourced products
We are fully stocked with plenty of goods to take away!
A range of craft beers from our friends:
Wincle Brewery
Redwillow Brewery
Shindigger Brewery
Robinsons Brewery
A fantastic Wine selection carefully chosen by our in-house Wine Weasel
And of course our full range of Forest Products including Cat & Fiddle Shop Exclusives!
the cat & fiddle shop
Forest repurposed candles
The cat & fiddle Shop
Our Current opening hours are:
Monday – Thursday: Closed
Friday: 11am to 5pm
Saturday & Sunday: 11am to 6pm
Forest gin Premixed Cans
The Story of The Cat & Fiddle so far
The curious tale of The Cat & Fiddle…
Once upon a time…
in 1813 to be historically accurate, a local Silk Merchant called John Ryle purchased a plot of land next to a brand new turnpike road.
Upon this plot, he built a beautiful, warm, cosy haven where weary travellers could enjoy a drink and a bite to eat. The weather at this location was often inclement, and Mr Ryle’s Inn soon became a necessary stop when travelling between the towns of Macclesfield and Buxton.
He named his Inn, The Cat & Fiddle (no, we don’t know why either but hey diddle diddle!)
Over the years, the Inn has played a part in many stories. Some personal, some more of international importance (Charles Rolls regularly used it as stop-off whilst testing cars for his fledgling business with a Mr Royce) . However, over the last few decades, like many other pubs, the Inn has struggled to survive as a business. Several factors are to blame, but it’s remote, yet beautiful location certainly hasn’t helped to encourage drinkers to visit and spend time.
In 2015, the Cat died, and a Weasel was born…
As the doors closed at the pub for the last time, a local family began a small business, selling gin which they distilled in their kitchen, using botanicals from the forest below The Cat and Fiddle. They called the product Forest Gin and it generated huge demand from the worlds best bars, hotels and department stores.
The family quickly rented a barn in the forest, employed some local folk and now they daily distil Forest Gin and Forest Whisky whilst singing twee folk songs and wearing Elf costumes (the costume and songs bit is a blatant lie, but if it helps the story, then great).
2019 A conundrum.
The Cat and Fiddle Inn has been owned by the Robinson family for nearly 100 years. The family are passionate about supporting pubs and local communities but, despite having invested huge amounts into the building over the years, each successive landlord has found it harder and harder to operate a successful business there. As a simple pub, the trading figures simply didn’t justify the investment needed. A lot has changed over the last century and after a lot of careful thought and consideration the family reluctantly decided to close the doors of The Cat and Fiddle.
But that was not the end of the story. For 3 years, the Robinson family worked hard to find the right partner, with the right business plan, who could take The Cat and Fiddle into a sustainable and successful future. To do this and reach its full potential, it was clear that The Cat and Fiddle needed to operate as more than a pub.
It just so happened that The Forest Distillery was operating at capacity, and was in urgent need of a space to put barrels of freshly distilled spirit to “sleep” for a few years until it was ready to be enjoyed as English Single Malt Whisky. The Cat and Fiddle just happens to have an extensive network of cellars at 1600 feet above sea level with the most perfect conditions for whisky to mature… coincidence or fate?
What’s Next?
We asked our friends, family, supporters and the local community for help to give this tale a happy ending. This iconic pub needed a major transformation to secure its future, including a new environmentally friendly sewage treatment plant and lots of other major refurbishment works, to breathe life in to this legendary hidden gem. In November 2019, we ran a Crowd funder which raised over £55,000 to assist us and Robinsons Brewery to attempt to re-open the Cat & Fiddle as Britains highest altitude distillery.
And Now!
Renovations are now complete and we are really pleased with all we have achieved. The Cat & Fiddle has finally been restored to its former glory and is now the home of our award winning Forest Gin Distillery and Forest Whisky Distillery. We hold regular tours around the distillery hosted by our experienced and knowledgeable Whisky & Gin weasels which have proven to be very popular. Our little shop has been opened where you can browse our fantastic range of distillery products along with a large variety of locally sourced goods.
We are very proud of what we have achieved with the renovation of the Cat & Fiddle and we hope that we have achieved our initial objectives to house a Whisky Distillery with the finest cellars in the land, create a World-Class tourism site to attract people to our beautiful local area and generate employment opportunities for local people, with the added bonus of attracting investment and more visitors to the wider region.
