It has a unique code system where the first number refers to the distillery and the second refers to the cask from which the bottle comes. SMWS also offers the largest range of distilleries of any independent bottler. These curiously named drams really do have something for every whisky lover!
Plenty of fruit on the neat nose – strawberry jam, wine gums, apple pie and preserved pears as well as cherry liqueur. On the palate, a sticky sweet maple pecan danish, runny honey and candy floss before we had Danish ‘wasp stings chilli liquorice’– sweet on the outside with an intense chilli centre. Following reduction we still plenty of fruity aromas, such as cherry chocolates and homemade strawberry wine, but also the scent of sandalwood and tonka beans. A soft, fluffy and chewy mouthfeel awaited us with flavours of chocolate-coated orange sponge cakes, jelly babies and iced gems. At two years of age, we combined selected casks from the same distillery into a variety of different casks to develop further. This is one of those casks.
About Penderyn
Penderyn is a Welsh whisky distillery and brand, producing the first commercially available whisky made in Wales since the 19th century. Produced at the Penderyn Distillery (the Welsh Whisky Company), Penderyn is a single malt whisky produced in several expressions, e.g. Madeira Finish, Peated, Sherrywood and Portwood. The distillery also produces the Dragon range comprising Legend (Madeira finish), Myth (Bourbon finish) and Celt (Peated), as well as gin and vodka.
It is distilled in the village of Penderyn, Rhondda Cynon Taf, in the Cynon Valley, from which the brand takes its name. The company was launched in 2000 as the Welsh Whisky Company. Whisky had been distilled in Wales for hundreds of years, but stopped in 1894.
Penderyn became the first whisky to be manufactured in Wales for over a century when sales started in 2004. The Penderyn Distillery also produces non-Whisky products: Merlyn Cream Liqueur, Five Vodka and Brecon Gin. Brecon Gin was awarded "Gold Best in Class" at the International Wines & Spirits Competition in 2011. Penderyn Distillery is situated in the Brecon Beacons National Park and sells internationally to markets such as Taiwan, Australia, France and USA.[citation needed] The company opened up a visitors centre in June 2008, with Charles, then Prince of Wales leading the proceedings. The visitors centre now sees more than 35,000 visitors per annum.
In May 2020 plans for a new distillery in Llandudno were approved. The new Lloyd Street Distillery opened on 17 May 2021, called the Penderyn Llandudno Lloyd St Distillery on the site of the former Llandudno Board School, later known as Lloyd Street School. A third distillery called Swansea Copperworks was opened in June 2023 in Swansea near Hafod Copperworks.
