We started building our distillery in January after our founder Daniel Dyer and head Distiller James Gibbons joined forces. Armed with years of food and spirit experience, and the right amount of passion to create the Spirit of Wales Distillery. Introducing a range of premium Welsh spirits for you in Newport, Wales, A no-nonsense spirit distillery that creates authentic Welsh spirits in Newport. The distillery produces affordable premium spirits that embody our Celtic roots and Wales industrial heritage. And a history of steel production, coal mining, agriculture, and fishing traditions.
Building the Spirit of Wales Distillery
When we first got our keys to our venue, the hall was empty, giving us a clean slate when building our distillery in Newport. To create our vision of a Welsh distillery that produces premium, yet affordable gins, vodkas, and rums. We took inspiration from the surrounding industry and history of South Wales. Our lovable rogue and poet W. H. Davies also inspired us and the passionate people of Cymru. We used our blank slate to create a piece of home for you to visit. A place where we create the flavour journeys of the Welsh.
We are busy with the last touches to our speakeasy-inspired bar area in time for our opening in July 2021. Our production area includes various sections and parts that work together. Allowing us to bring you the Spirit of Wales distillery release spirits and our Steeltown Welsh Dry Gin and Steeltown Welsh Vodka, and our Dragon’s Breath Rums. We have two 600 litre Dragon Steel Stills, named Laura and Ffion, as well as fermenters and washing vessels. Our first steel still, named after James’ sister Laura, is used to produce our Welsh rums and Ffion, named after Daniels’ daughter, creates 600 bottles of Welsh gin at a time.
Contributing positively whilst building our distillery.
We care about the environment at the Spirit of Wales Distillery. Although we are a new distillery in Newport, we have sourced our equipment from other producers in the industry to recondition when building our distillery. We did this rather than creating waste for existing wine and spirit producers. A win-win situation where we get to adapt our equipment and create collection of spirits.
We have a stainless-steel tank used for the fermentation of our limited release distillation and Dragon’s Breath Rums. This fermenter had a previous life at a local winery in Gloucestershire. Our wooden cladding fermenter, which we reconditioned and used for the fermentation of our rum. And last, an open tank vessel to mix molasses with water. These molasses rums will appear in the future collections of our Dragon’s Breath speciality spirits.
Producing small-batch premium distilled Welsh spirits.
Once in place, our reconditioned equipment used in building our distillery has allowed us to produce the first batches of Welsh Vodka, gins, and rums on a small scale. Small batches have allowed us to distil a range of quality spirits in a brief space of time. Find our existing range of limited release Welsh spirits. Available on our online store whilst we finish our bar and visitor area.
Our goal is to create surprising and complex flavours, abstract stories on your palette. Giving you a piece of home to treasure. In the future, we plan to take the Spirit of Wales to the world so they can delight in our narratives of taste and share our Welsh fire. We plan to scale up our recipes and Welsh flavour combinations to bring you the best experiences of Wales. In the interim, you can join us for a virtual tasting or purchase your bottle of our Welsh spirits. Want to find out more about how far we are with building our distillery in Newport? Follow us on Instagram.Â
You found the fiery passion of the Welsh people in every bottle of The Spirit of Wales, with a shot of sweet determination and a drop of fire inspired by our dragon. Find a moment that reminds you of home and or have a taste of our culture. The Spirit of Wales. Uncomplicated and unpretentious for all to enjoy.
