Kella Distillers has won another award for its ‘innovative’ spirits, produced in Sulby.

The International Wine and Spirit Challenge, billed by many as the premier competition of its kind in the world, has awarded ManX, Manx Spirit a silver medal in this year’s competition.

The business is based at Sulby in the north of the island and is in the hands of Rebecca and Alan Gelling.

Mrs Gelling said: ‘Alan, who is our head distiller, has built on decades of experience in developing new ways to create spirits with distinctive qualities.’

ManX was launched in 1997 following a re-branding requirement after Glen Kella Whisky lost a High Court case in London.

Mrs Gelling added: ‘While we only use pure malt whisky to create ManX, our distillation process enables us to remove the non-volatile residue extracted by the alcohol from the burnt wooden cask.

‘The judge ruled the result could not be called whisky, despite having a definite whisky taste, as it was colourless.

‘By working closely with Ramsey-based whisky merchants, Lombard Scotch Whisky, (based in Ramsey), we have now sourced high quality pure malt whiskies from leading distillers in Scotland.’

ManX was relaunched in 2016 following repeated requests from our distributor Joseph Bucknall.

‘After Bob Taylor, our previous head distiller for over 20 years, passed away, we felt we should focus our efforts on our new product, Bifrost.

‘However, teaming up with both Lombards and Bucknall’s, in Douglas, we felt confident enough to revamp ManX.

‘That effort has now paid off with the global recognition that a silver medal from the IWSC judges brings.’