The Cotswolds distillery was founded by Dan Szor in 2014 and is named after the rolling hills of south-central England where the distillery is located. In its early days, it called on the help of Bowmore’s former manager Harry Cockburn and Jim Swan, known for his work with distilleries such as Kavalan and Penderyn. The first whisky, distilled in Forsyth stills, was released three years after the distillery opened, during which period Cotswolds also became known for its gin.

A Cotswolds distilled in 2016 and bottled in 2020, matured for 4 years in a first-fill re-charred barrique. This is a limited edition of 287 bottles for the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS) was founded in Edinburgh in 1983 by a group of friends with a particular passion for whisky. The club selects casks whose bottles are then only available to members. The name of the distillery is not mentioned on the label but each distillery is given a number as the malt is bottled. The first cask selected by the SMWS, for example, was Glenfarclas, and it therefore uses the number 1. The second number refers to the number of bottlings from each distillery. The club was sold to Glenmorangie in 2004 and then to a group of investors in 2016.