Penderyn

Type: Distillery and brand

A single distillation at 92% ABV: that is how Penderyn describes the spirit from its signature Faraday still. Bourbon barrels and Madeira casks provide the foundation of its house style. The original distillery stands in the village of Penderyn, in the foothills of the Brecon Beacons.[2][5]

What Penderyn is known for

The Faraday still gives Penderyn its distinctive production method; bourbon and Madeira casks give its house style its foundation. The producer credits its first Master Distiller, Dr Jim Swan, with developing the combination: maturation in bourbon barrels followed by time in casks previously used for Madeira wine. That describes the making of the house style, rather than the taste of every release.[2][5]

Penderyn marks a return to Welsh whisky production, not its invention. According to the producer’s historical account, the earlier Frongoch distillery near Bala closed in 1903. More than a century later, Prince Charles launched the first Penderyn whisky on St David’s Day, 1 March 2004.[3]

The founding story

The producer traces the project to a conversation among friends at the Glancynon Inn in Hirwaun in 1999. Turning that conversation into a distillery meant finding both a still and somewhere to put it. Its account follows the pub’s landlord, Alun John Evans, to an unused still in Brecon and places the distillery in his old Gwalia stores, with spring water beneath the building.[4][5]

Story box: A still and an old village store

• Founding story: According to the producer, Evans found an unused still in Brecon. The distillery was established in his old Gwalia stores, with spring water beneath the building.[5]
• Key person: Alun John Evans, 1953 to 2016, was the Glancynon Inn’s landlord and is described by Penderyn as the story’s “central figure”.[5]
• Documented record: Companies House records incorporation on 24 August 1998, a separate milestone from the producer’s account of the 1999 conversation.[1][4]
• Claim: Penderyn records Evans’ founding line as “I heard there was a still for sale”.
• Verdict: Documented
• What the record shows: The producer attributes those words to Evans in its published account.[5]
• Evidence against or gap: The quotation is presented as the producer’s recollection, not a contemporary transcript.
• Earliest known source in the supplied record: Penderyn’s undated tribute to Evans, Swan and Tutssel.[5]
• Sources and claim mapping: Founding story, key person and quotation: Penderyn’s tribute. Incorporation: Companies House. Conversation: producer’s history.
• Last checked: November 2026. The exact day requires confirmation.

The producer’s history also names investor Professor Brian Morgan and director Edwina Clark among the original team. Swan joined the story later: the company’s 2026 development plan dates his guidance of the distilling process from 2002.[5][9]

How Penderyn makes its spirit

Penderyn’s Faraday still combines pot and column distilling in one apparatus. The producer describes it as making spirit in a single distillation at 92% ABV; a 2015 trade account explains that spirit can be drawn from different points in the column. This combined design, rather than two successive pot distillations, defines the signature process.[2][7]

The same trade account records an initial operation with one still making around 90,000 litres of spirit annually, with wash bought from the nearby Brains brewery until June 2014. Wash is the fermented liquid sent for distillation. The 90,000 litre figure describes historical spirit production, not current capacity measured in litres of pure alcohol.[7]

The company says its capacity trebled in 2013 and 2014. Those additions changed the equipment available: the original single-still operation is part of Penderyn’s history, not a complete description of its later production equipment.[9]

Casks and the Penderyn ranges

Madeira is central to Penderyn, but its cask programme reaches much further. The producer’s published account lists bourbon barrels, many sourced from Buffalo Trace, alongside Madeira barriques, port casks, Oloroso sherry casks and peated Scottish casks. Swan’s bourbon and Madeira combination is the starting point, not the limit.[2]

The Gold Range began in 2004 and was relaunched in 2017 in a bottle designed by Glenn Tutssel. It bears the words “Aur Cymru”, meaning Welsh Gold. The producer’s 2026 plan lists Madeira, Peated, Sherrywood, Rich Oak and Portwood within the range.[5][9]

Introduced in 2015, the Dragon Range sets out three distinct cask treatments. According to the producer’s development plan, Legend has a Madeira finish, Myth uses ex-red wine casks and Celt uses ex-peated Islay casks. These are descriptions of the casks used, not promises of particular flavours.[9]

The Icons of Wales series has a different organising idea. Earlier releases include Red Flag, Independence, Dylan and That Try. Later entries include Copperopolis in 2025, Bad Wolf in October 2025 and The Village for Portmeirion’s centenary in 2026.[7][9]

Penderyn called Bad Wolf its first 10 year old. Its 2026 plan also describes a port-finished 12 year old as the first of a planned annual release. Across the growing catalogue, it helps to distinguish three things: the named series, the cask treatment and the age statement.[9]

Three distilleries, three distinct stories

An old village store, a listed school and a former copperworks give Penderyn’s three sites sharply different settings. The village distillery, established in Evans’s old Gwalia stores, is the original. An August 2024 trade report described it as Penderyn’s “first and largest”.[5][8]

Llandudno’s setting is the Grade II listed Old Board School, a building dating from 1887. The producer announced that its shop would open on 17 May 2021. That announcement describes a new Faraday still commissioned by distiller Bethan Morgans and a focus on peated single malt. Its water comes from a reservoir that once supplied the Great Orme lighthouse.[6]

The producer’s 2026 development plan identifies Serpents Tears as the first single malt released from stock distilled at Llandudno. Its origin therefore distinguishes it within the wider Penderyn name.[9]

Swansea’s setting is industrial: the former Hafod Morfa Copperworks. A trade report records that whisky production there paused in August 2024 while tours continued; the report does not establish whether distillation later restarted.[8]

According to the producer’s 2026 plan, the two newer sites together can make over one million litres of pure alcohol annually. Checked in November 2026, that figure describes their combined capacity, not actual output or the capacity of the village distillery alone.[9]

Penderyn and Welsh whisky’s protected name

Single Malt Welsh Whisky became a UK geographical indication on 24 July 2023. Defra’s announcement calls it the first spirit registered under the scheme. Its production requirements include every production step taking place in Wales, using malted barley and water of 100% Welsh origin.[10]

The protection applies to that specific name, rather than every possible category of Welsh whisky. Penderyn applied alongside In the Welsh Wind, Da Mhile and Coles. Contemporary trade reporting dates the start of the joint application process to February 2020.[11]

This is a shared Welsh distilling story, with Penderyn as one of its members. Read about Aber Falls for another Welsh distillery. The same trade report counted six Welsh whisky distilleries in July 2023, a snapshot of the industry at that date rather than a current total.[11]

Visiting Penderyn

Choose the site first: Penderyn has three distinct distillery histories, and a visit to one does not stand for them all. The village visitor centre opened in June 2008. Check the producer’s current arrangements for the location you want, including booking, accessibility and age conditions. Visitor access does not necessarily mean whisky production is running at that site.[3][8]

Where to go next

• Aber Falls: another Welsh distillery to place alongside Penderyn.
• The English Distillery: continue into the neighbouring English distilling story.
• Cotswolds Distillery: explore another distillery in the English and Welsh collection.

Sources

1. Companies House. The Welsh Whisky Company Limited, company number 03620949, live register record, checked 2026. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/03620949
2. Penderyn Distillery, producer’s account. Our Story, undated web edition, checked 2026. https://www.penderyn.wales/our-story/
3. Penderyn Distillery, producer’s account. Distilling in Wales, undated web edition, checked 2026. https://www.penderyn.wales/distilling-in-wales/
4. Penderyn Distillery, producer’s account. A Brief History of Welsh Whisky and Penderyn, undated web edition, checked 2026. https://www.penderyn.wales/news/a-brief-history-of-penderyn-and-welsh-whisky/
5. Penderyn Distillery, producer’s account. Alun ‘The Glan’ Evans, Dr Jim Swan and Glenn Tutssel: Three People who made Penderyn what it is today, undated web edition, checked 2026. https://www.penderyn.wales/news/alun-evans-dr-jim-swan-and-glenn-tutssel-three-people-who-made-penderyn-what-it-is-today/
6. Penderyn Distillery, producer’s account. Penderyn’s Llandudno Lloyd St Distillery shop opens on 17th May 2021, 2021. https://www.penderyn.wales/news/penderyns-llandudno-lloyd-st-distillery-shop-opens-on-17th-may-2021-with-tours-to-follow-from-june-1st/
7. The Spirits Business. Penderyn Distillery in pictures, September 2015. https://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2015/09/penderyn-distillery-in-pictures/
8. The Spirits Business. Penderyn pauses production at third distillery, August 2024. https://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2024/08/penderyn-pauses-production-at-third-distillery/
9. The Welsh Whisky Company, producer’s account. Penderyn Development Plan 2026, ProWein paper, 2026. https://www.prowein.de/vis-content/event-prowein2026/exh-prowein2026.3050776/ProWein-2026-The-Welsh-Whisky-Company-Ltd.-Penderyn-Distillery-Paper-prowein2026.3050776-BENct0oHQPCnLYquEbR1Lg.pdf
10. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Single Malt Welsh Whisky to be protected, July 2023. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/single-malt-welsh-whisky-to-be-protected
11. The Drinks Business. Welsh whisky gains protected GI status under new UK scheme, July 2023. https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2023/07/welsh-whisky-gains-protected-gi-status-from-new-uk-scheme/

This article is desk research based on the supplied verified fact sheet, distinguishing producer accounts, company records, government reporting and dated trade coverage.

Last checked: November 2026