English Distillery Claims Americans Will Go For ‘Bourbon-Style’ Whisky Distilled in London

Few products are as distinctly American as bourbon. It’s not just a matter of tradition. By law, any whiskey bearing the title of “bourbon” must be produced in the United States. But that can’t necessarily stop international distillers from making spirits that mimic bourbon in style and flavor. The question is: If a distillery outside the U.S. pitched a “bourbon-style” whisky to Americans, would they bite?

Well, the world is about to find out. On Sunday, The Times reported that London’s Doghouse Distillery is launching a whisky produced in the same fashion as bourbon in an effort to steal market share from industry heavyweights in the U.S.

According to The Times, the product — named Debt Collector — is crafted with a mash bill of at least 51 percent corn, aged in charred, new American oak barrels, and bottled at 100 proof. While most bourbons spend roughly five to six years in barrel, Debt Collector is only a three-year-old whisky.

Doghouse Distillery’s founder Braden Saunders firmly believes that the bourbon-esque liquid will be a hit in the U.S.

“Initially, I didn’t think there’d be a market there but I was over in America in September and everyone went, ‘Why wouldn’t we support an English bourbon? That sounds amazing,’” he told The Times. “Being English gives us a unique selling point.”

Whether or not the spirit will be a success, labelling it as bourbon would be illegal. Therefore, Doghouse Distillery reportedly plans to market Debt Collector as either “bourbon-like” or “American-style.” While there are no rules currently preventing the distillery from using those descriptors, there’s a strong chance that doing so could pose some legal troubles for Saunders. In the world of Scotch, many non-Scottish distilleries have gone to court for using terminology and imagery that alludes to Scotland, even though they don’t specifically call their spirits Scotch.

That said, Doghouse Distillery is entitled to make the whisky using traditional bourbon methods as it pleases. “We can make any type of whisky, as long as we’ve got the know-how — it just takes time, trials, investment and understanding,” Saunders told The Times. The issue lies in the terminology. In 2021, a group of Japanese distillers announced a similar plan to produce a whisky using bourbon production methods, but the name of the brand has yet to be unveiled.

The threat of the potentially impending tariffs could also prove to be a hindrance for Debt Collector, but Saunders remains optimistic, believing that his whisky will top American offerings in taste.

“I’m not going to run around saying mine is the best bourbon in the world because it’s young,” he told The Times. “But if you look at our bourbon versus the big-name bourbons that age on average five or six years, we are tastier. That’s because if you put a really good-quality spirit in a cask, it will taste better than low-quality spirit that is aged for longer.”

While there is currently no Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) approval of a domestic label for Debt Collector, Doghouse Distillery’s Instagram depicts the bottle with the words “American style” on its label. According to The Times, Saunders plans to initially produce roughly 20,000 bottles, and increase that number to 100,000 if the product is a success.

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