Whisky production has halted at a distillery in south Wales, having only been open for little over a year. The group behind the distillery say the current slow economy is the primary reason behind the pause.
Penderyn’s Swansea facility opened in May 2023 on the site of the former Hafod Morfa Copperworks. The historic buildings date back to 1809 and were restored - alongside the construction of new buildings - as part of a multi-million pound project to establish the new distillery and visitor centre.
Funding for the Swansea distillery largely came from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Welsh government, who contributed £4 million and £500,000 respectively. After just a year of production, the distillery has ceased production.
However, this does not necessarily spell the end of the Swansea distillery. Penderyn’s chief operating officer Neil Quigley has said: "The site is not closing. We are pausing alcohol spirit production at Swansea as a result of the slowdown in the economy and the current reduction in demand for premium products.
We are aligning our spirit product with our forward sales forecast and will be looking to resume production as soon as possible.”
Even though whisky making will stop, guests are still able to book tours at the distillery. In addition to taking guests through the production process - including Penderyn’s unique Faraday stills -, tours at the Swansea site also include an exhibition and short film discussing the Copperworks and the history of copper making in the region.
The distillery’s retail space will also remain open, and tastings and corporate events will continue to run as well.
The Swansea distillery was Penderyn’s third distillery in Wales. Their first was built in Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) National Park. This is group’s largest distillery in terms of capacity and remains the brand’s spiritual home (indeed, they took their name from the village of Penderyn). A second distillery was built in Llandudno, north Wales, opening in 2021.
Obviously, with two other distilleries on hand still producing spirit, Penderyn isn’t going to be disappearing any time soon. Nevertheless it is still worrying to see production stop at any distillery.
The industry wide crash of the 1980s and its many closures casts a long, dark shadow over the Scotch whisky industry. Hopefully the news coming from south Wales is not a sign of things to come for spirits across the British Isles. Fingers crossed whisky production picks up in Swansea soon!
