Description

• The Penderyn Distillery is in the rural village of Penderyn, Rhondda Cynon Taf, in Cynon Valley, Wales (West of London, east of Dublin across the Irish Sea). It opened in 2000 and started offering whisky in 2004An all-women distilling and blending team leads the Penderyn distillery. Distillery manager, Laura Davies, looks after the day-to-day running of spirit production.  Aista Jukneviciute is Penderyn’s main Blender. It’s her job to decide when whiskies have matured and to help develop expressions of their whisky both existing and new. Dr. Jim Swan mentored both Laura and Aista before he passed away in 2017. Jim was with Penderyn from the beginning. Described as ‘the Einstein of whisky’ and ‘the ultimate whisky troubleshooter’, Jim also worked with Kilchoman and Kavalan among others.
  
  As for the whisky, the Penderyn Celt is part of the Red Dragon Series. A series that promotes the national flag of Wales and the Royal Welsh badge bears the motto, ‘Y ddraig goch ddyry cychwyn’, which translates as ‘The red dragon inspires action.’ The whisky is finished in Islay quarter cask, non-chill filtered and natural color. It is a single pot still and bottled at 43% alcohol for the US market. On the nose, mild aromas of peat smoke, early morning at the rocky seaside and warm marmalade on toast all compete for attention. The palate begins with great sweetness before the smoky, slightly medicinal flavors descend. It finishes with a slight bitterness follows that leaves a long and lingering freshness in the mouth.