‘Distilling in Wales was a lost art…’
…but in the late 1990s, in a pub in a small post-industrial Welsh valley town, a group of friends drank and chatted about establishing the first whisky distillery in Wales in over a century. They dreamt of creating a whisky as pure and precious as Welsh gold, represented today by Penderyn’s ‘gold seam’.
The friends had a location in the historic village of Penderyn on the southern tip of the Brecon Beacons, chosen because of the site’s own supply of fresh natural spring water. They also had a unique copper single-pot still designed by Dr David Faraday, a relative of the great 19th-century scientist Michael Faraday. Penderyn Whisky was launched on St David’s Day 2004 in the presence of HRH Prince Charles.
At Penderyn they produce their own malted barley spirit which, when matured, is recognised worldwide as one of the finest single malt whiskies. The majority of their spirit goes into casks for ageing in their cellars. The remainder is used to craft other award-winning products. With investment, inspiration, hard work, attention to detail, the finest barley, expert distillers and the best American oak bourbon casks, Penderyn Whisky has quickly gained a worldwide reputation winning several awards en route and they have recently found new markets in countries such as China, Russia and Australia.
