TL;DR: A relaxed but at the same time full-on day in the south west of Wales. We visited two craft distilleries, In The Welsh Wind and Dà Mhìle. We discovered the existence of iStills in the first one, and got to know more about organic whisky in the second one…Both very interesting projects, so much information to take in! 

(missed Part 2/Part 1?)

The night at the Lleithyr Farm camping near St. Davids was quiet, and we woke up definitely very rested, with a couple of black pigs snuffling on the other side of the fence and rabbits sprinting around. At that point of the trip we had perfected our morning routine: breakfast, shower, washing dishes, and packing up. So much that soon after we were able to leave the camping towards north, along the Welsh west coastline.

Our next stop was a new distillery: In the Welsh Wind! We were a bit ahead of schedule on the road, but we lost all of our advantage because of tractors and other heavy vehicles on a very narrow highway (also, Mr Vantastic isn’t really good at overtaking…). The distillery is on the A487 near Tan-y-gros, very easy to spot, about five miles past Cardigan towards north, towards Aberystwyth. The building used to be a pub, now it’s all painted black with their logo on the side.

Also, their neighbour is an old small car…collector? Dealer? Deposit? Who knows! The cars are mostly eviscerated (no engine) but painted with bright colours: very peculiar.

As we walked in the distillery, we realised that the staff were busy in a meeting, so James (the distillery manager) came to us asking to wait a couple of minutes. He came back very soon, apologising: they were having this meeting to deal with a new big customer of theirs, Tesco! 

We had chosen the “Tour only” option, as we were not very interested in the gin tasting coming with the regular tour. James told us the story of the distillery: it was founded by a couple, Ellen and Alex, after a sabbatical period when they walked over 1,000 miles on the Welsh coast and the historic border. They started the distillery in 2018, making gin first, but since 2021, they lay casks down for whisky. So no whisky yet, but they aim for a first release in 2025. Besides whisky, and other than gin (under two different brands, more of that later), they make vodka and rum (mostly spiced, they had some limited wood-matured release which promptly disappeared), as well as…malt vinegar! That was a “pandemic project”, to make use of local brewery’s beer that otherwise would have been wasted. This featured in some TV-shows, and the popularity that followed apparently helped put them “on the map”. 

The production area is quite small, and a big part of the surface is dedicated to their own malting floor. A very important aspect is that, for the whisky, they source the barley locally, all from a 10-mile radius, and they malt it themselves (without peat). When we visited it was July, which, because of the heat, is their “off-season”, when they don’t malt and don’t make any whisky. Another interesting and distinctive thing is that they have two iStills (the first time we saw them!). This “all-in-one” still is made by a Dutch maker, and saves on space and personnel: in our understanding, they charge it with milled barley, water and yeast, and it does the whole process, in a very efficient way. They have two iStills, one for big batches and a smaller one for experimental runs.

They use these for whisky (aiming to ~80%abv in the newmake), vodka (higher abv, ~90%) and rum. The whisky is filled in the usual casks (many ex-bourbon, ex-sherry, ex-wine) diluted with local water to ~62%abv. On top of that, they also fill a lot of 30-litre casks to sell to privates (for £2,000). Some casks were stored there, although James told us they had just bought a warehouse to store most of their products. 

On the other side of the building, near the bar, there are the two gin stills (200 and 50 litre), and also six mini-stills. These are part of the “distill-your-own” business, where people can come and choose among the many available botanicals to make their own recipe and redistill a pre-prepared 50% neutral grain spirit. Very clever! They also sell their products to the local trade, in particular a brand called Eccentric Spirit, which they bought and resurrected (this is the one that will go to Tesco). The tour ended at the shop (which in the meantime became quite busy), with a nip of their In the Welsh Wind gins (a dry one and a Palo Cortado cask matured one), and of the whisky they source from Mackmyra distillery, in Sweden (curious choice). 

Left the distillery, we had enough time to do groceries and refuel before driving to the next one: Dà Mhìle. This wee distillery is on the Glynhynod farm (in Welsh, “remarkable valley”), in a stunning and hidden place (it reminded Gianluigi the village where his mother grew up, Casali di Morfasso) off the A486. Although a very different business compared to the In The Welsh Wind, the ignition was somehow coming from the same place: the need for a life change. In 1981, John, Patrice and Paula moved to Wales from the Netherlands and purchased the farm, where they started organic farming and in particular organic cheese-making (named Caws Teifi). About a decade later, John went to an organic food festival and spotted a gap in the market: organic whisky. So, they farmed barley on their fields, and looked for someone to produce their organic whisky. After many “no thanks”, someone accepted their offer: Springbank! They sent their barley to Campbeltown, where it was turned into newmake spirit by the popular distillers in 1992, and was firstly released in 2000. Although that was the only ever batch of barley produced at the farm (apparently it is not an ideal location for growing barley), they commissioned another batch of organic whisky, this time at Loch Lomond. In 2012, however, after the legalisation of craft stills, Dà Mhìle purchased their own and started producing their own spirits: whisky, rum, gin, brandy, vodka and liqueurs. 

This story was told us while sitting in the lovely tasting room, resembling a mountain cottage, and equipped with a bar and shelves full of their products. The lower level of the same building is the “distillery”, which consists in a 350-litre German still, with a wood-fired steam boiler. The wash is bought from a local brewery (we couldn’t understand which one), which comes already fermented and ready to be distilled. After this explanation we started the tasting, with the whiskies first. The first dram was the 2023 release of their organic single malt Welsh whisky, vatting of two sherry casks (bottled at 46%abv). The second was an organic single grain Welsh whisky, released in 2022, and finished in ex-Laphroaig quarter casks, a bit smoky and tasty (46%abv). The final dram was a delicious 20 years old organic single grain Scotch whisky (again, 46%abv), from the batch they had commissioned to Loch Lomond in 2000.

After the whisky tasting, we had another one: the cheese tasting! One seasoned with nettle, one with cumin, a mature cheddar and the “Celtic promise”: all tasty, the latter two were delicious! Then, it was time for lunch, a Welsh rarebit, something we had never tried before.

As a final part of the tour, we went outside to check out the warehouse: a small building with concrete floor, where a few dozen casks were resting. The space is quite wide, looks like it was sized for the medium-long term, since they only fill about 22 casks per year. Finally, we visited the shop, where they sell a range of organic products: other than cheesy and boozy goodies, also meat, eggs and produce. 

We left the distillery very happy, driving towards Aberystwyth, where we would have spent the night. Before driving into town, we did a detour to visit the Devil’s Bridge, which we remembered from the Hinterland TV show (which we loved).

Once in Aberystwyth, we parked Mr. Vantastic and had a stroll in the centre. We found it very nice, and although quite small, the place gave us “towny” vibes. After dinner (well, some sandwiches we’d made earlier), we celebrated a day of exciting discoveries about the art of craft distilling in a lovely pub, with craft beers and live acoustic music. Slainte!  

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In The Welsh Wind Tour only

Price: £8.00 pp (July 2023)

Duration: 45min

Tasting: nip of available products

Target: everyone, but still mostly gin lovers

Value for money: good

Highlights: the iStill

Recommended: yes for craft-distilling enthusiasts

Link: https://inthewelshwind.co.uk/

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Dà Mhìle Whisky tasting (talk, tasting and lunch)

Price: £35.00 pp (July 2023)

Duration: 1hr 30min

Tasting: 3-dram from the available range, for us it included 2023 Organic Single Malt (two ex-sherry casks vatting, 46%, natural presentation); 2022 Organic Single Grain (finished in an ex-Laphroaig quarter cask, 46%, natural presentation); 20y Loch Lomond Organic Single Grain (46%, natural presentation), and

Target: everyone, foodies in particular

Value for money: good

Highlights: the bucolic location

Recommended: yes for craft-distilling enthusiasts

Link: https://www.damhile.co.uk/