Penderyn Distillery’s Post

530 years in the making: The History of Whisky Let’s time travel today, eh? 🛞 1494 - The First Record: Documented evidence of whisky appears in Scotland's Exchequer Rolls, marking the distillation of the medicinal "aqua vitae" by Friar John Cor. 🛞 1608 - Oldest License: Bushmills, in Northern Ireland, secures its license, becoming the world's oldest licensed distillery. 🛞 1823 - Legal Distilling: The Excise Act legalises distilling in the UK for a fee, sparking a boom in legal and innovative distilling practices. 🛞 1831 - Distillation Innovation: Aeneas Coffey invents the Coffey still, revolutionising whisky production by enabling continuous distillation. 🛞 1920s - Prohibition's Unlikely Hero: During U.S. Prohibition (boo!), Scottish and Canadian whiskies gain popularity in underground bars, expanding their international market. 🛞 1963 - Single Malt Scotches Go Global: Glenfiddich starts to globally market single malts (traditionally used only in blends), and reshapes consumer tastes in the process. 🛞 1980s - Market Downturn and Revival: The whisky industry faces a downturn, leading to distillery closures, but setting the stage for a resurgence in craft and premium whisky. 🛞 2000s - The Age of Cask Experimentation: Distilleries begin experimenting with cask finishes, using barrels from wine, sherry, rum, and even beer to enhance complexity and flavour. 🛞 2010s - The Dawn of Japanese Whisky: Japanese whiskies, like Yamazaki, gain international acclaim, winning numerous global awards and expanding the whisky market. 🛞 Today - High Tech Meets High Tradition: From production and blockchain to track provenance, to Diageo's SmokeDNAi and exploration of exactly what occurs while whisky ages in its cask, it’s the most exciting time to be alive for whisky lovers. You can’t deny it, whisky’s history is as rich and layered as the drink itself. Sláinte! 🥃 P.S. Got anything interesting to add? 📸 Friar John Cor

🔮 The Heart Cut's 'Ones to Watch' in Whisky for 2025 🔮 As we step into a new year, we're spotlighting four key trends that we see shaping the world of whisky in 2025: 🥃 American Single Malt: With its newly official category status (yay!), American Single Malt is only going to get bigger, and rightly so. Distilleries like Westward Whiskey, Westland Distillery, Balcones Distilling and Copperworks Distilling Company are leading the charge and are a constant in our home bar. 🌏 Japanese Whisky’s Craft Surge: Japan's distillery count has skyrocketed, and with that comes new ideas in regionality and innovation. Influenced by climate, distilleries in the south are making distinctly different spirits from those in the North, and we’re seeing craft producers like Kanosuke blending traditional shōchū-making techniques with whisky production, making something altogether different. ❄️ Nordic Whisky: From Finland’s sauna-born Kyrö Distillery Company to Stauning Whisky’s custom-built equipment, Nordic whisky combines engineering genius with the “New Nordic” food ethos of using local grains and methods to showcase regional character. 🔥 Reimaging Smoke: Distilleries worldwide are redefining smoky whisky by using what's local to them. Think cherrywood in California, heather and birch wood in Denmark, Manuka wood in New Zealand, and mesquite in New Mexico - each bringing a different idea of 'terroir' to smoke. Curious to try? Clink the below, which links you to what we're sipping from each trend And let us know what's on your radar! https://lnkd.in/ergF8AAd

Whisky Review: Yamazaki 12 Year Old Suntory Pure Malt Whisky Yamazaki Distillery, the oldest distillery in Japan, is almost synonymous with Japanese whisky. This is, in part, thanks to the popularity of the Yamazaki 12 Year Old, the longest-standing single malt expression in Yamazaki's core range. We review an expression bottled prior to 2004.

#Malt #whisky is whisky made from a fermented mash consisting of malted barley. If the product is made exclusively at a single distillery (along with other restrictions), it is typically called a single malt whisky. Although malt whisky can be made using other malted grains besides barley,

It seems that someone has finally decided to formalize their very own single malt whisky, an unimpressive move considering that it has been produced in Scotland for over 530 years. The regulations for this whisky are mostly consistent with traditional standards; however, it only requires two years of barrel aging, unlike most countries that mandate a minimum of three years for single malt whisky. #eventplanner #corporateevents #corporateentertainment   #eventplanning #eventprofs #eventdesign #eventmanagement #eventplanner #corporateevents #corporateentertainment #eventplanning #eventprofs #eventdesign #eventmanagement

Monday whisky knowledge - what is single malt whisky? Often considered ‘superior’ among experts, single malt whisky has been made in Scotland since the 18th century. Blended whisky is created from single malt whiskies and grain whiskies taken from different distilleries. A single malt whisky can only be produced from a single distillery. But it can also be made using a single variety of malted grain, typically malted barley. However, single malt whisky need not be the product of one single whisky cask. They are almost always a blend of whiskies taken from several casks. So as long as these casks are all from the same distillery, the final ‘blend’ is considered a single malt. #SingleMaltWhisky #WhiskyKnowledge #WhiskyEducation #MaltMonday For more information about single malt whisky, contact us today: https://ow.ly/HQ4l50SwApg

Welcome to part 4 in a my series of reviews covering recent releases from the Dumbarton-based independent bottler, Dràm Mòr. In this installment, I’ll be getting to grips with a wee sample from Loch Lomond Distillery, arguably one of the most interesting whisky producers in all of Scotland. Loch Lomond is capable of producing a wide range of different spirits. Each new make style is given a unique name in order to differentiate them. Some are named after islands that can be found in the famous loch. Like Inchmurrin, for example. The Loch Lomond Distillery was established in Alexandria in 1964. There was an earlier distillery to hold the name but it was relatively short-lived and the two are unconnected. Over the plant’s relatively short life, it has undergone several upgrades and expansions. Production commenced on a solitary pair of straight-necked stills that look like a combination between pot and column still. In place of the traditional swan neck, there is a cylindrical column, inside of which, there is a series of plates that can be adjusted to alter the character of the spirit being produced. The number of stills doubled in 1990, before a set of traditional swan neck pot stills were added in 1998. Complicating matters further, a set of column stills were added in 1993, to allow for the production of grain whisky. This made the distillery entirely self-sufficient and able to create everything required for making blended Scotch in-house. Despite the distillery’s impressive flexibility and potential for creativity, however, it would be fair to say that its single malt didn’t always enjoy the greatest of reputations. Things have improved in recent years after first one, then a second, management buyout. A new core range, which showcases the spirit at 46% ABV, without chill-filtering or colour enhancement, paints the spirit in a much more positive light and celebrates some of the incredible flexibility that’s been built into the distillery. Inchmurrin is the name given to an unpeated malt, distilled in the straight-neck stills and this Dràm Mòr expression is a single cask, which has been finished in an oloroso sherry hogshead before bottling at 55.7%. https://lnkd.in/eTPrWa-P

𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐔𝐊 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬 😍 The number of registered distilleries in the UK climbed by 8.7% last year, driven by new English producers. The UK welcomed 54 new distilleries in 2023 to reach a total of 387 (up from 356 distilleries in 2022), according to national accountancy group UHY Hacker Young.The number of distilleries in England soared by a fifth to 48 sites registered in 2023, up from 40 in 2022.Scotland and Northern Ireland each saw an increase of three new distilleries last year, while Wales’ distillery numbers remained the same.Among some of the new UK producers were Edinburgh-based The Port of Leith Distillery , which opened its new £12 million (US$14.5m) distillery last year. Meanwhile, Ad Gefrin launched a £14m (US$17.5m) whisky distillery and museum in Northumberland, England. Titanic Distillers also become the first working whiskey distillery in Belfast in almost 90 years when it opened last summer. According to HMRC data for the year ending 31 July 2023, UK drinks exports rose by 13% to £9.4 billion (US$11.8bn), up from £8.3bn (US$10.4bn) in 2021/22. Citing data from the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA), UHY noted that whisky now accounts for more than a quarter of all UK food and drink exports at a value of £5.6bn (US$7bn) in 2023. James Simmonds, partner at UHY Hacker Young, said: “The premium prices consumers are willing to pay for higher margin, luxury brands is seeing both entrepreneurs and bigger spirits companies continue to rush to capitalise on the market. Spirits, including whisky, have been one of the UK’s success stories. “The expectation is that, longer term, there is much more growth to come in the UK’s heritage spirits brands. “Strong levels of demand are seeing new distillers continue to enter the market, while savvy entrepreneurs in the business are also taking advantage of additional revenue streams such as distillery tours and tastings.” Scotch whisky exports were up by 14% by value last year when compared with 2019 figures, the SWA revealed. However, the figures are a decrease on 2022, which was described as a ‘bumper’ year.

As mentioned earlier, only 151 distilleries are currently operating in Scotland. Some are quite large, such as Glenlivet, which produces 21 million liters of pure alcohol (100% ABV, which doesn’t exist in the real world but simplifies calculations). Others are much smaller, like Tiree Distillery, which aims to reach 2,000 liters this year. Looking at the timeline of distillery openings, you’ll see that 49 new distilleries have been established since 2011. That sounds like a lot—and you might think it would significantly boost market supply. However, our latest research shows that these 49 new distilleries contribute a combined production increase of 34 million liters, which accounts for only 3.8% of total Scotch production. This barely covers the category’s growth compared to pre-COVID 2019 levels.

Consider the modest production volumes of new Scotch whisky distilleries emerging in the last decade. These additions aren’t substantial enough to slow down market growth. But could increased production from established distilleries have that effect?