It’s only fitting to start a new year with a ‘BANG!’ so here we go! A Gold Medal award-winning, limited-edition whisky from Welsh distillery, Penderyn. aged in Olorosso sherry butts and Bordeaux Grand Cru barrels and its exclusive in Australia to The Single Malt Whisky Club. The Penderyn Rhiannon
Yes the only place in Australia to grab the Penderyn Rhiannon with us. The Penderyn Rhiannon is an Oloroso and Bordeaux Grand Cru matured Welsh Single Malt and if you’re partial to a bit of a sherry matured whisky, you’ll love this one.
After the huge response to the Penderyn Port Wood we featured early last year, we had hoped to follow it up with this one a little sooner. Sadly, global shipping being what it is at present, means we’ve had to wait and wait… and wait! for this to finally arrive. But it’s finally here and we are pretty stoked.
Every so often – about once a year (but sometimes a few years apart, no ‘set’ timing) – Penderyn release a new addition to their ‘Icons of Wales’ series. The ‘Icons’ are special, limited edition Penderyn expressions – each one celebrating a person, milestone or event from Welsh history with international significance. Previous editions of ‘the Icons’ celebrate such diverse ‘Welsh-ness’ as Poetry (Dylan Thomas), incredible Rugby trys, even the American declaration of independence (due to the number of Welsh ties in the signatories).
Although it was released in 2019, the worldwide COVID situation seems to have only seen it ‘getting out’ to international markets (such as the USA) last year. And finally ‘our’ order has made it here! We are pleased to have secured the entire Australian allocation exclusively for our members.
Rhiannon celebrates a mythic Welsh Goddess – heroin of Britain’s oldest written stories (11th century) – ‘The Mabinogi’. The stories feature strong women characters, and none are stronger than Rhiannon – an enchantress and a horse goddess who could ‘out-run any pursuer even whilst riding slowly’. She was famed for being intelligent, generous, strong-willed, otherworldly, adept at strategic planning and gifted with both supernatural and physical powers. On her journey Rhiannon uses magic to rid herself of a suitor, is falsely accused of infanticide, and later becomes one of only four survivors of a magical thunderstorm. Rhiannon in Welsh means ‘Great Queen’ or ‘Divine Queen.’ Her parents were the Fairy King and Queen of Gwent (in reality a sizeable Welsh Kingdom of ancient Britain), who educated her to handle sovereignty and governance. Rhiannon also possessed a number of magical birds who could soothe the living into a deep slumber, or wake the dead from eternal sleep.
Penderyn Rhiannon was distilled in Penderyn’s signature style, using a single copper-pot that produces a flavourful spirit of extraordinary strength and purity. The still is interesting in itself. Penderyn’s ‘Faraday Still’ could be considered a pot/column still hybrid, it’s technically still classified as a ‘copper pot still’ though. The Rhiannon is a marriage of Oloroso sherry butt matured and Bordeaux Grand Cru barrel matured spirit. It won Gold in the 2021 World Whisky Masters, Jim Murray scored it 96.5 and declared it ‘Liquid Gold’ in the same year. It also won a gold medal gold for it’s unique bottle design at the 2019 Spirits Business Design & Packaging Awards. Tasty AND stylish! – just like yours truly!
OUR TASTING NOTES
Nose: Nutty oak filters through sweet rich fruit notes. Fresh apricots, sweet honey and some floral hints.
Palate: Stewed fruit, butterscotch and some chocolate at first, then turns dry with a liberal pepper sprinkling.
Finish: The dryness carries through to the finish with big oak and mouth coating pepper.
This is a complex whisky in terms of the layers of both taste(s) and mouthfeel. Rich and sweet on the nose and initially same on the palate (with a distinct creaminess too) but then changes tack and gets all dry and peppery. Enjoyable the whole way through. Just as many layers as the mythical Rhiannon herself!
FROM PENDERYN
A brand new Sherrywood Grand Cru finished whisky at 46%. The 7th in our ‘Icons of Wales’ series. The Penderyn Rhiannon celebrates Rhiannon, a powerful enchantress and horse goddess from the ancient Welsh folk tales, ‘The Mabinogi’. More recently Rhiannon featured in the wonderful song of the same name by Fleetwood Mac.
Nose: Spicy sweetness with the hint of vanilla; oak tannins, red berries, blackcurrants, hazelnuts, pears, sultanas and sweet marzipan.
Taste: Smooth velvety sweetness; creamy caramel, figs, red berries, delicate frangipane, chocolate ganache and a touch of coffee.
Finish: Sweet and dry with long lingering oak tannins.
- 2021 Spirits Business World Whisky Masters – Gold
- 2019 Spirits Business Design & Packaging Awards – Gold
ABOUT PENDERYN
Whilst Penderyn Distillery is currently the only distillery in Wales – and the first whisky to be manufactured in Wales for more than a century – Wales itself is no stranger to whisky production. Ancient stills dating back to the 4th century have been discovered in several Welsh archaeological digs. It’s also noteworthy that a Welsh immigrant – Evan Williams (the son of a Welsh distiller) – is considered to be one of the founding fathers of the Kentucky Bourbon industry after emigrating to the New World and opening a distillery on the banks of the Ohio River in 1783.
Sadly though, from 1903 (when Frognoch Distillery closes) there is no more whisky production in Wales. Until, that is, in the late 1990’s when a group of friends began their quest to re-open distilling in Wales after more than a century.
Penderyn was chosen as the site for the distillery due to the natural spring water and in 2000 work began. They acquired a copper pot still designed by Dr. David Faraday (relative of famous 19th century scientist, Michael Faraday). In 2004, Penderyn whisky is officially launched by non other than HRH Prince Charles.
Penderyn stand out from most Scottish and Irish distilleries due to their use of a Faraday still as well as the traditional ‘lantern’ style copper pot stills we are all familiar with. The Faraday still (whilst still technically classified as a ‘pot still’) makes use of a double column with plates. The Faraday still allows the whole distillation process (from wash through to finished spirit) to be carried out in the one still, in the one batch. The Faraday still outputs spirit at an industry-high level of 92% ABV. This is a very pure, clean spirit and free from many of the undesirable compounds unavoidable in ‘traditional’ pot still distillations. Use of both the Faraday Still, plus two ‘normal’ pot stills (which produce an oilier, heavier product) allow differing combinations of both spirits to be produced and aged together – thus giving Penderyn great versatility in it’s production.
As a result of the company’s progress, a new distillery opened in Llandudno North Wales in May 2021, and a further distillery is planned for Swansea, in South Wales, in 2022.
