The Water

Penderyn Distillery is located in the Brecon Beacons National Park and draws water exclusively from our own pure source in the carboniferous limestone deep below the distillery. This is the only water used in the distilling and blending process and it is a key ingredient in our malt whisky. The same source provides some of the finest bottled mineral waters in the world.

Located in the Brecon Beacons

The distillery sits above a cavernous aquifer that contains rock formations laid down around 340 million years ago.

This aquifer holds water that filters down through the overlying basal grit into the limestone. The whole formation is described as thick-bedded and of fine to course-grained material. It was originally deposited in a shallow marine environment. Ancient weathered surfaces exist in parts of the formation, covered with thin, primordial soil in places where the rock was briefly higher than sea level before being submerged again.

Above ground, before the last Ice Age ended, the ice floes covering Northern Europe had reached the latitude at which Penderyn Distillery lies now. 10,000 years ago, they began their retreat back to the Arctic and the local landscape we know today began to emerge.

The Brecon Beacons National Park spans 519 square miles and contains some of the most spectacular, pristine and diverse landscapes in Europe. The Beacons themselves are a mountain range of outstanding natural beauty and home to Pen-y-Fan, the highest old red sandstone summit in Britain.

Penderyn also lies within the bounds of the Fforest Fawr National Geopark. There are only 89 Geoparks across the globe and they are administered by UNESCO as areas which exhibit ‘geological heritage of great significance’.