Whisky Tasting & Whisky Tour - Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales
Penderyn Whisky:
"....Absolutely staggering arrival on the palate of malt, landing with almost snowflake delicateness. Immediately a second movement, this time of bitter-sweet fruit, blood orange included, sweeps down over the startled taste buds. Astonishing stuff."
– Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible.
Dr Jim Swan’s Tasting Notes
At premium strength (46% vol) Penderyn has an exceptionally balanced taste with an aroma of cream toffee and fleetingly of fresh new heather. Then, as the initial sensations fade, the finishing notes of tropical fruits, raisins and vanilla emerge strongly and are long lasting.
Its' not just the Scots and Irish that have a monopoly on Whisky-making - why not ask Reception to organise a whisky tour to the nearby Penderyn Whisky Distillery, located a leisurely 20 minutes by car from Brecon and nestling in the foothills of the Brecon Beacons mountains:
Penderyn has won high critical acclaim for its Welsh Whiskies and a number of prestigious international industry awards and medals.
In 2007, Penderyn Distillery introduced three further brands: Brecon Five Vodka, Brecon Gin and Merlyn Cream Liqueur. Each have won international recognition and are gaining an excellent reputation in the UK and abroad.
The Penderyn distillery is located in the beautiful Brecon Beacons National Park in Wales.
During the whisky tour, visitors will learn about the ancient art of distilling, the differences between the Penderyn Distillery process and the distilling of Scottish, Irish and American whiskies and an exhibition of the history of whisky making in Wales including the last historical Welsh Whisky from Frongoch, near Bala N.Wales
How and why has Penderyn established itself as one of the finest and most delicate malt whiskies in the world?
Any good whisky brings together the following three ingredients: the still, the wood and water. It is, however, the passion and expertise in bringing these elements together that will make the difference between an ordinary whisky and an ethereal spirit which provides delicate and complex experience every time Penderyn is nosed or drunk.
The Still
Each morning Penderyn's unique copper-pot still is charged with the finest malted barley wash. As the steam heats the liquid it starts to bubble and the vapour rises into our copper column above the still. The column has a number of perforated plates and the vapour will condense on the first plate before being returned to the still. As the process continues the vapour will reach the second plate and so on, before evaporating and falling back to the still, each step leaving the spirit, smoother, softer and more refined. Eventually the spirit is drawn from the seventh plate and piped to our spirit safe where it lands, literally drop by drop, over the course of the day.
This laborious process imparts Penderyn's raw spirit not only with great complexity, depth and finesse but improves dwell time with the copper and removes many of the undesirable chemical compounds which a conventional two or three pot system cannot achieve.
Arriving at the spirit safe at an industry high of 92% A.B.V. the spirit is virtually free from these chemical compounds and this fact becomes crucial during the cask ageing.
It is a little known fact outside of the industry that a major part of the reason for aging whisky in charred oak barrels is to remove undesirable chemical compounds. This is where the charcoal comes in and the reason why oak barrels are burned or charred prior to filling.
As these compounds are generally absent from the spirit in the first place, it allows Penderyn to concentrate on the wood management to primarily build complexity, flavour and depth.
At the end of the day the copper pot is switched off and the result of all this effort is just one cask of spirit.
The Wood
Penderyn's consultant, Dr Jim Swan, is not only one the world’s finest Master Distillers but is the world authority on wood management.
Similarly to many distilleries, Penderyn's initial ageing is in ex-bourbon oak casks. However, in their case no expense is spared in sourcing the finest casks available only from the best Tennessee and Kentucky distilleries. A large portion of their casks come from Buffalo Trace which is widely recognised as not only one of the finest bourbons in the world but is well-known for using the best casks in the industry. Buffalo Trace has itself won numerous awards. We also use Evan Williams’ casks which are also of outstanding quality and bring great provenance as Evan Williams, from Wales, was one of the founders of the American Bourbon industry.
Penderyn's Master Distiller will regularly nose and score each individual cask over many years. At just the right time the whisky is disgorged and recasked into ex-Madeira barrels. They have a special relationship with one of the finest cooperages who themselves only supply the very best Madeira houses. Madeira is a sweet, complex wine of great rarity produced only on the island of Madeira. It is a wine capable of aging for over 100 years.
Slowly the spirit will leach the Madeira from the oak increasingly gaining in subtlety and complexity. It is only when this process is complete will their Master Distiller allow them to bottle the spirit.
The Water
Penderyn Distillery is located in the Brecon Beacons National Park and draws water exclusively from its own well. Only this water is used in the distilling and blending process and is a key ingredient in Penderyn's whisky. Their site is based on a cavernous aquifer which contains rock formations from around 340 million years ago. The aquifer is recharged via the overlying basal grit into the limestone with the primary direction of the water downwards. The formation is described as thick bedded, fine to course grained material and was deposited in an ancient shallow marine environment. Ancient weathered surfaces exist in parts of the formation covered with thin ancient soil where the rock was briefly higher than sea level before being submerged again.
Penderyn's source also provides some of the finest bottled mineral waters in the world.
10,000 years ago the last ice age ended. The ice floes covering Northern Europe stopped exactly where the Penderyn Distillery lies today before retreating back to the Artic.
Conclusion
The above ingredients, and an overwhelming passion to produce spirit of uncompromising quality, combine to produce Penderyn, recognised by connoisseurs as one of the finest malt whiskies in the world.
Like Welsh gold Penderyn's whisky is produced in minute quantities and has to be strictly allocated to the export market.
The next time you taste Penderyn we hope the above knowledge will enhance and enrich your experience.
*Reproduced from the web site of Penderyn Whisky
