On Saint David‘s Day - national day of Wales - March 1st, 2004 HRH Prince of Wales presented the first Penderyn Single Malt to the world. The Welsh Whisky Company or Y Cwmni Wisgi Cymreig was reborn in 1998  in the small village of Penderyn. Whisky enthusiasts Alun and Brian Morgan discussed the renaissance of Welsh whisky distilling in a pub.

On 14th September, 2000 they founded a distillery north of Cardiff in the Brecon Beacons National Park and put their dream of a Wisgi Cymreig into reality near the legendary Arthur‘s Seat.  The distillery was built  on the site of the Gwalia warehouse which was once storing wine. They did not copy Scottish or Irish distilling processes but proceeded on their own Welsh way of distilling, their AUR CYMRU, the Welsh Gold.

Dr. David Faraday - a descendent of the Victorian scientist Sir Micheal Faraday - and his team of the University of Surrey developed exclusively a still which comprises Scottish pot still and Irish Coffey still features. Faraday developed a single copper column pot still which is absolutely unique in distilling industry. Within one distillation step a new make spirit with a strength  from 92 to 86% A.B.V. can  be distilled. The spirit is of „great finesse...extremely clean ,flavourful‘...“ And above all, the still saves about 60% of the energy needed by a traditional Scottish pot still. The stills were manufactured by Macmillans at Prestonpans near Edinburgh. Technical adviser was the whisky expert Dr James Swan (see also Kilchoman and Daftmill Distilleries).

The wash is not produced on site as it is defined by law in Scotland but by the brewery S.A. Brains & Co. in Cardiff. Before fermentation the brewer‘s wort is treated further by lactobacteria in order to produce more flavour. 2.500 litres of ,fruity‘ wash contains 8% A.B.V. It is very slowly distilled by a „drop by drop distillation“. Within 8 to 10 hours 200 litres of British new make find their way to the spirit receiver. During a three shift day about three casks of alcohol, are produced. The spirit is reduced to 63.4% A.B.V. and then filled into Bourbon casks from U.S. or Sherry casks from Andalucia. The first ,testing‘ casks came from Jack Daniel Distillery, Tennessee, and from Even Williams of Heaven Hill Distillery, Kentucky.  „Since 2005 we have been filling first-fill casks from Buffalo Trace Distillery as our whisky matures perfectly,“ says the Distillery Manager Gillian Macdonald (she is Welsh and married to a Scot).

„The Penderyn house style derives uniquely from the use of two types of casks. For the initial maturation, we use the finest hand-selected bourbon barrels, and to finish the wysgi we transfer it to Portuguese barriques that have previously nurtured a rich Madeira wine.“ Penderyn website

After three to five years in Bourbon casks the whisky matures for about another six months in Madeira wine casks. „Slowly our spirit will leach the Madeira from the oak, increasingly gaining in subtlety and complexity. Only when this process is complete will our Master Distiller allow us to bottle that spirit at Penderyn.“ Penderyn website. Oloroso Sherry butts from Jerez in Spain are also used for maturation. Master Blender is the Scotsman Dr James Swan.

At the start the annual production was 60.000 bottles and in 2011 about 140.000 bottles.  Bottling strength is 46% A.B.V., the whiskies are not coloured and not chill-filtered. 75% of the production is sold in the U.K. Penderyn Distillery produces also Brecon Five Vodka, Brecon Gin and Merlyn Cream Liqueur.

Penderyn increases its current output and target new international markets. The expansion is an investment of almost £1,000,000, funded by the distillery and supported by the Welsh Government. They will install an additional single Faraday pot still until August 2013 as well as a new two-pot still production unit until 2014. It is expected to increase the annual sales to 500,000 bottles per year.

There is a well-visited state-of-the-art visitor centre is offering a choice of tours for the beginner and the connaisseur.

Penderyn was expanded by column stills and traditional pot stills in summer 2013. In May 2016 plans were released to build a second distillery at Swansea.

Managing Director: Stephen Davis

Technical Manager: Dr Giancarlo Bianchi

For German readers an article by the editor of the Gateway to Distilleries about Penderyn Distillery was published in the Irland Journal‘s spring edition of 2012. See:  www.irland-journal.de 

„Wisgi aus dem Land der Drachen“

www.irland-journal.de/mediapool/84/849092/data/ij_1.12/068-072_Wisgi_low.pdf

The Gateway to Distilleries presents some photos by kind permission and courtesy of Penderyn Distillery. Copyright is only by Penderyn Distillery 2012.

Please double-click and thumbnail the photo to open the tour.

Thank you.