Several years ago we carried a note about a company engaged in marketing "Welsh Whisky". This created a lot of interest and we were soon swamped with enquiries like "Is there a distributor in California?" and "I bought a bottle on a recent trip to Wales, where can I buy some in Australia?"

When I tried to contact the bottling company in Wales in order to answer these and other queries, I found that there never seemed to be a responsible person available. Alarm bells rang and before long our mailbag indicated certain concerns about the product. We promptly dropped the story and soon found that the company in question had simply been importing Scotch whisky and just blending and bottling it in Wales. You can understand how we felt when a recent e-mail read like this: 
"Hi from (a US state), our association is about to have a tasting of Welsh whisky, I'm the secretary and need some history of the product for a short talk. Can you help?"

I had the unfortunate duty of explaining that their bottles contained a whisky which, although apparently very well regarded by some, actually originated in Scotland. It appears that the powerful body (The Scotch Whisky Association) which regulates the Scottish industry was quite upset when it became aware that a Scots product was being mis-represented as a Welsh product. We understand their concern but thankfully the days of doubt are behind us. The bottling company concerned ceased trading.

June 2000, latest news ...

Some time ago a group of Welsh businessmen (headed by Brian Morgan of the highly regarded University of Wales Business School in Cardiff) decided to do a proper job, as we say in south Wales. Although having no connection with the bottling company mentioned above, they bought its assets (which included certain brand names) and set about building the first new distillery in Wales for 100 years. They decided from the outset to make the best possible product - using pure natural water from the underground spring at the distillery site in Penderyn and locally produced malted barley. The good news is that the distillery is now in production - the bad news is that the whisky, the first to be produced in Wales since the closing of the old Frongoch distillery around 100 years ago, will not be on general sale for another three years! Whisky has to be aged for at least this time and I'm told that Welsh whisky from Penderyn will spend this time maturing in "Bourbon casks from the Jack Daniel distillery". 
 

A compact gas-fired steam generator powers the new still.

Although the new still looks traditional in appearance, it has been designed to be highly efficient and environment friendly. It was designed by Dr. David Faraday of Sussex University (a grandson of the famous British scientist) and built by the Scottish firm of McMillans. When I took a close look at the copper column, I found it to be studded with electronic sensors and tiny take-off taps. These provide data for studies on energy efficiency and product quality. The Welsh Whisky Company is already cooperating with specialists from the Universities of Surrey and Dublin to research these issues but the writer was invited to perform a test on behalf of the visitors to the Data Wales website. A tiny copper tap was opened to permit a couple of drops of a clear sparkling liquid to fall on my fingertips (whisky only takes on its amber hue in the ageing process). I just had time to notice a fascinating taste and aroma before the few precious drops evaporated into the clean fresh air of Penderyn. A moment to remember!

As is usual in the this industry, the Welsh Whisky Company will be offering associations and individuals a chance to buy barrels once they are laid down for ageing. This is a particularly interesting proposition for overseas buyers since they don't need to pay the ridiculously high British tax on spirits. Once the ageing process is complete, those who have bought barrels will be able to instruct the company to bottle and ship their whisky as required. I'm guessing that most of the early production will become "spoken for" in this way, so the normal retail customer will probably have to wait a little longer than three years before he or she can walk into a store and buy a bottle. 

On my visit to Penderyn I put a couple of questions to the directors of the company:

Why Penderyn? Apparently the site was selected because of the abundance of special quality water at the site. According to Arthur Davies, one of the directors (and a person in whose own veins must flow the blood of the ancient bards) "Our water flows over the peat of the Brecons* in beautiful, clean fast flowing streams and rivers full of tumultuous waterfalls before permeating into the natural underground water system. This gives it a distinct peatyness, which has a neutral but distinctive quality essential for the production of a first class malt whisky".

(* The rolling hills of the Brecon Beacons National Park.)

Why did whisky production in Wales cease in the 1890s? The closing of the Frongoch distillery in north Wales coincided with the height of the "chapel building mania" in Wales. The last of the Welsh religious revivals stressed the importance of temperance and the impact of this philosophy was felt in Wales until recent times. Only in recent decades has it been possible to buy a drink on Sunday in Wales. Needless to say the paternalistic attitude of the non-conformist churches did not prevent the Welsh from gaining a reputation as a fairly hard-drinking race, but that's another story ...

If you have any queries about Welsh whisky, feel free to write.
 

Data Wales Index