Welsh whisky – the rebirth

When, at the turn of the 20^th century, the stills at Frongoch distillery fell silent Wales ceased to be a whisky-producing country. The first attempt to put Wales back on the world’s whisky map was made in the 1970s. Based in Brecon, in the beautiful Brecon Beacons, Dafydd Gittins started using Scotch whisky to produce ‘chwisgi’. Welsh whisky had taken the first step to its rebirth 30 years later ……

First product on the market was a blend called “Swn Y Mor” (meaning ‘sound of the sea’). It was claimed that “Swn Y Mor” was a blend of Scottish-distilled malt whisky with Welsh-distilled grain spirit, but where this grain spirit could have come from was quite obscure as there was no distillery in Wales producing potable spirit. More likely is that “Swn Y Mor” was simply Scottish blended whisky. In any case, it was filtered through a layer consisting of ‘a secret mixture of seven Welsh herbs’ to give it a distinctive Welsh flavour. Certainly, “Swn Y Mor” was a whisky with very strong herbal (dill?) and leafy notes, a peculiar savoury note (umami??) and not much else. The ultimate aim of the company (variously called ‘Brecon Brewery’, ‘Welsh Whisky Ltd.’ and ‘Welsh Distillers Limited’) was to actually distill malt whisky on Welsh soil and a next step up in reaching that goal was a ‘Welsh Malt Whisky’, a single malt under the label “Prince of Wales”. The label stated that the whisky was ‘produced’ in Wales, not ‘distilled’. Like the earlier blend, “Prince of Wales” must be of  Scottish origin; again, it was filtered through an herb layer. Compared to the blend, the single malt was more malty and less herby, without the savoury notes, and with a very dry finish. Subsequently, in 1991 the company moved to new premises at Brecon’s Parc Menter, where a visitor centre was built. Using development money from the EU, work was commissioned to develop a new kind of still which was to be housed in an adjacent building and distill whisky on Welsh soil for the first time in almost a century. The key drives in the development of this new still were increasing energy efficiency and decreasing environmental impact.

And then it all went pear-shaped …..

Pressure from the Scotch whisky industry culminated in a court case which focused on the ‘indicated country of origin’. To be precise, “Prince of Wales” was sold as Welsh whisky while it wasn’t distilled in Wales. In addition, a duty fraud of over £250,000 led to three of the company’s directors being jailed for 8 months. Suffice to say, distilling never got started in Brecon …..

Fortunately, the work on designing a new type of still, undertaken at the University of Surrey in Guildford by a team led by Dr David Faraday, had not been for nothing. The Welsh Whisky Company was established in 1998 by, among others, Arthur Davies (now one of the people involved with the plans for Blackwood distillery on Shetland). Gwalia distillery was built in the village of Penderyn, at the southern edge of the Brecon Beacons, and the new still found a place here. Distilling of whisky on Welsh soil commenced on the 14^th of September 2000.

The newly designed ‘Welsh’ whisky still, constructed by Macmillans at Prestonpans, differs from the traditional pot still in a number of ways. You could argue that it is a combination of a pot, eau-de-vie and column still, all in one. On top of the copper 2,500 liter pot is a copper column with 6 plates. Connected to this is a copper rectifier with an additional 18 plates. A system of pumps allows internal cycling of spirit: it can be extracted from any level and re-introduced at any other level. This allows for a large amount of control of the distillation process and very low levels of foreshots and feints. The wash is produced at the Brains brewery in Cardiff using the barley variety Regina; besides yeast, lactobacteria are also specifically added in order to control bacterial fermentation and thereby the flavours produced by these microbes. At Gwalia distillery the wash is introduced into the still at around 8% abv and the new make spirit leaves the still at over 90% abv. This also means that in contrast to the situation at every Scottish or Irish malt whisky distillery, Gwalia does not have (or need) a set-up with a separate wash and spirit still, but has only one still in which the whole process from wash to new make takes place.

The fresh spirit is first matured in barrels that have previously contained Evan Williams bourbon or Jack Daniel’s Tennessee whiskey, and subsequently finished in ex-madeira casks. Finally, “Penderyn” is bottled, un-chill-filtered, at 46%. What does ‘Aur Cymru’ (‘Welsh Gold’) taste like? Here, 100+ years after those most flowery of Victorian tasting notes (… the sunshine and shadow that chased each other over the billowy fields, … and … the autumn’s rich content, all golden with imprisoned light), again some tasting notes of Welsh single malt whisky. The nose of “Penderyn” is very fragrant, with toffee, vanilla and a fructose-fruitiness reminiscent of St George. Sometimes it also has the slightest whiff of leather. On the palate more fruits (apples, lemons), balanced by drier notes (touch of leather again) and combined with a very smooth mouthfeel and none of the juvenile aspects you’d expect from a 3 y.o. This is already one of the most mature young whiskies I’ve ever tasted and I can’t wait to follow “Penderyn” in the years to come as it matures further and gains in complexity.

The people at Gwalia distillery have put Wales back on the whisky map and, judging from their first whisky (launched, fittingly, on March 1, St David’s Day), Wales as a whisky country is definitely here to stay!

Thanks to Edwina Clark and Rachel-Jane Howe of Gwalia distillery and the BIG partnership for information, photographic material and tasting samples.

© 2005 Alex Kraaijeveld