Our Philosophy


"Homo Sapiens", a Latin phrase meaning "that being which tastes and smells, which appreciates the sapidity of a food or spirit of quality"


In a world of globalised, multi-national and multi-brand companies it is important to understand that Penderyn is a small distillery. In fact we are very, very small. Some distilleries, even premium brands, produce more in a day than we produce in a year. (There is more Chateau d’Yquem released each year than Penderyn).


Penderyn is what the marketing people would call a ‘discovered brand’. First, it was discovered by the Welsh, who initially bought this, the first Welsh malt whisky in over 100 years, out of pride and patriotism. Later it was discovered by a small band of connoisseurs around the world, perhaps who had visited Wales, and who spread the word that this was not only a distinctive modern brand but also a malt whisky with a uniquely delicate and complex character. As word has spread, demand has been such that all our export markets have had to be placed on strict allocation.  


All this is just as well – we have spent virtually nothing on marketing outside of Wales and have no intention of doing so, preferring to invest in the quality of our spirit. We put enormous pride and passion into producing our Penderyn barley spirit, most of which goes on to age in our cellars and to be bottled as Penderyn single malt Welsh whisky. Tiny quantities are diverted to craft our other premium products.

                

Penderyn has won numerous international awards for its spirits


Merlyn Cream Liqueur

Merlyn is a premium quality cream liqueur produced using only our own malted barley spirit combined with pure fresh dairy cream. It is one of the few premium cream liqueurs available, and has achieved an almost ëcultí following amongst its devotees.

Brecon Five Vodka

Purity is the secret of any great vodka, and ours is hand-crafted using only the finest five-column distilled grain spirit, with barley spirit from Penderyn. Its purity is complemented by nuances of fresh fruit and boiled sweets, in a flavour that is exclusive to Penderyn.

Brecon Special Reserve Gin

Brecon is a big, traditional juniper gin that incorporates a total of ten botanicals sourced from the four corners of the earth. Using a 100 year-old recipe, this is how a natural gin should taste.

What is meant by premium

prem-ium (pre'me'em) noun - very high value; adjective - rated as superior in quality and sold at a higher price; idiom - very valuable, usually because of scarcity; modif - prime, superior, select, selected.

All Penderyn's spirits are premium or super-premium and are produced in small batches using only the finest available ingredients and traditional production methods. In the case of our single malt whisky, an awful lot of time is also involved.

To understand what 'premium' means it is worth looking at what is not premium. It is a sobering thought (excuse the pun) that if you pay £9 for a bottle of 40% ABV spirit in the UK, the duty and VAT element will account for £6.80 with a further £1.80-£2.00 going on the bottle and distribution costs. You can see that there is very little left to cover the cost of the spirit and this is why much of the spirits industry has to be driven by enormous volumes.

This is not the case at Penderyn, where we take great pride in our authenticity and in our belief that a distillery should be driven by passion for the spirit and not how many thousands of extra cases we can produce next year.