Spirits · Penderyn, Wales

Penderyn Distillery

The distillery that brought whisky back to Wales after more than a century.

Based in: Penderyn, Wales

Their story

Penderyn began with a group of friends who decided, over drinks in a pub, that Wales should make whisky again. They built a small distillery in the village of Penderyn, on the edge of the Brecon Beacons, drawn by the area's clean water. It was the first whisky distillery in Wales in more than a hundred years.

The first whisky was released on St David's Day 2004. Since then Penderyn has grown from a modest shed into a company with two more sites, one in Llandudno on the north coast and one at the old Swansea Copperworks.

How it's made

The heart of the distillery is the Faraday still, a copper still with two columns designed by Dr David Faraday and installed in 2000, which yields a very high-strength spirit. The whisky ages first in bourbon barrels, then often finishes in casks that held Madeira wine. The flagship Madeira finish was developed with the late whisky consultant Dr Jim Swan.