Having never been to north Wales, it has to be said that the train journey alone is worth the trip. Upon leaving the City of Chester (and England) behind, the railway hugs the coast for the entirety of the route taking in seaside holiday towns such as Rhyl and Prestatyn, and the incredibly picturesque Conwy with its imposing castle. The sea temporarily disappears from view as we pull into Bangor, where we are to meet up with the team from Aber Falls distillery. We are now in the northwestern tip of Wales, close to the island of Anglesey.
The drive back to the distillery was equally as picturesque. Back a short way along the coast to the village of Abergwyngregyn and we are told that we had actually directly passed alongside the distillery on the train. This is confirmed upon arrival – the train line literally runs next to the visitor centre and reminds us noisily of this at regular intervals during our time inside.
After a spot of lunch we embark on a trek to Aber Falls – the waterfall that lends the distillery its name. A short car trip to the parking area of the Coedydd Aber National Nature Reserve on the edge of the Snowdonia National Park was followed by a brisk ever-inclining 40-minute walk to the falls. It was definitely worth it, especially one particular view that revealed the full splendour upon rounding a corner.
Although not part of the regular distillery tour on offer, it should definitely be considered. The falls are spectacular and drop over 37 metres (120 feet) of rock to the valley floor. Often when in a distillery you could be anywhere, but this places you right within the location. We enjoyed a taste of the classic red-label Welsh Single Malt expression while taking in the view and making the most of the photo opportunites. We guarantee that whisky will never taste as good as in that moment.
Aber Falls is owned and was founded by Halewood Artisanal Spirits. They are the only spirits company to own whisky distilleries in England (Bankhall, named after a distillery founded in 1790 in Liverpool), Scotland (Bonnington in Leith, Edinburgh) and Wales. Production began in 2017 with whisky and gin. Rye whisky has also been produced since 2019.
The distillery is housed within an old factory building next to the fast-flowing Afon Goch (Red River in English) with a new, purpose built visitor centre sitting across from it. This houses a cafe, shop, blending lab and meeting rooms. It is also where the distillery tours kick off with a small cinema room showing a brand film before heading to the production area.
Our distillery tour took place the following morning and was led by Sam Foster, the Distillery Manager. He was joined by Jillian Boyd, the Master Blender for Halewood’s dark spirits. The water used for production and cooling is taken from the adjacent Afon Goch. The distillery is trying to be as sustainable as possible with all the barley being sourced from Wales, in particular a farm in Pembrokeshire. This is malted by Crisp Maltings in England in 30-tonne batches.
The malted barley returns to north Wales and is stored in two huge malt silos until needed. Each mash uses one tonne of malted barley and produces around 500-600 litres of new make spirit. They operate 15 mashes per week with each using three waters – the first is added at 64°C and this activates specific enzymes within the mash. The second and third waters (at 75°C and 85°C respectively) extract the soluble sugars from the malted barley grist. Each batch of mash results in 5,000 litres of wort – the sugary liquid used in fermentation.
There are six stainless steel washbacks at Aber Falls, each holding one 5,000 litre batch of wort. Yeast is added and left to do its magic. The fermentation times range from 72 hours in warmer times to 90 hours in colder weather. The resulting wash is 7-8% ABV and undergoes double distillation in the same 5,000 litre batches. They produce between 40 and 120 casks of new make spirit per week depending on working patterns. We were also shown the gin still where Aber Falls gin is produced – this is made using neutral grain spirit, Welsh water and several different botanicals (we saw orange peel, liquorice and juniper but others are used).
Welsh whisky has recently received a geographical denomination and many of the definitions and rules are similar to that of Scotch. This includes that the whisky must be distilled, matured and bottled in Wales to be labelled as Welsh whisky. To aid this Aber Falls are extending their warehouse facility and building a new bottling plant in Bangor. This is currently home to 8,500 casks of maturing whisky and is also where all Aber Falls casks are filled, rather than at the distillery.
Aber Falls is well worth a visit if you are in north Wales. It is set in a stunning location and their whiskies show plenty of promise. They also seem to be very experimental with some of the unorthodox cask types that they are maturing in and these will begin appearing on the market in due course. It is refreshing to see – they are following similar rules to Scotland but also have the ability to innovate within the looser boundaries. There are interesting times ahead for Aber Falls as the Welsh category continues to grow.
A huge thank you goes to Sam and Jillian for their time, expertise and hospitality, plus James Stocker – the Sales & Marketing Director for Halewood Artisanal Spirits.
Visitor Information
- Distillery tours operate on the hour, every hour while the Visitor Centre is open.
- The first tour is 11am each day and the last is 4pm.
- Distillery tour costs | £12.50 per person (£10.50 OAPs and students).
- The Visitor Centre, shop and cafe is open 10am-6pm daily.
- Address | Aber Falls Distillery Limited, Station Road, Abergwyngregyn, North Wales, LL33 0LB.
To book a tour |aberfallsdistillery.com or call on 01248 209224.
