Daniel Szor

The Path

Before distilling became the central trade, Daniel Szor worked in research and client advisory roles, later becoming head of European marketing and managing director at FX Concepts in New York, Paris, London (1987–2013). Since 2014, he has been founder of Cotswolds Distillery, and that role has placed Daniel Szor inside the practical business of building spirits in the region as well as the trade around it. He has also served as a board member of Wine & Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) and a board member of Gin Guild, positions that connect him to the wider structures of British spirits. Since 2017, Daniel has been a secretary of state–appointed member of Cotswolds Conservation Board, linking the distillery business to the landscape it inhabits. In 2025, that broader remit was formalised again when he became the 378th master of Worshipful Company of Distillers.

The Work Today

Today, Daniel is founder and CEO of Cotswolds Distillery in Shipston on Stour, where English single malt whisky and craft spirits remain the centre of the business he built. He is also founder and executive chairman of The Cotswold Distilling Company Ltd. The work is structured through titles, but the underlying discipline is unchanged: build carefully, keep the operation rooted, and let time do part of the work. That is the logic behind the transition from finance to distilling. Daniel has put it plainly: “Whisky started out as a passion and a pastime, but has redefined my life.” The line describes a trade governed by repetition and patience, where the value lies in what can be carried forward year by year rather than won quickly. At the distillery, that approach is visible in the business he built and in the work that continues to define it. The distance between FX Concepts in New York, Paris, London (1987–2013) and Cotswolds Distillery in Shipston on Stour is part of the point: a career that moved from abstract markets to a craft built on scent, texture, and material process.

Signature

Daniel's signature dishes include Cotswolds Single Malt.

In Their Words “There’s simply a list of things I’ve achieved that may not be financial, but give life more meaning.” “Whisky started out as a passion and a pastime, but has redefined my life.”

Acclaim

The key title in 2025 was his appointment as Master of the Worshipful Company of Distillers. It sits alongside his work at the distillery, marking the breadth of his work in spirit production and underscoring the unusual span of his career—from FX Concepts in New York, Paris, London (1987–2013) to Cotswolds Distillery in Shipston on Stour, and from the language of markets to the language of malt.