Tour de force

from taste. blas magazine: Issue 2, Spring 2019

Soggy packed lunches?

Bursting with Welsh spirit

Two years ago there was no such thing as Aber Falls gin and whisky distillery. But since transforming a derelict old butter factory into North Wales’s first whisky producer in 100 years, managing director James Wright has turned the enterprise into an award-winning market leader for Wales on the world stage. Steve Stratford took a tour to find out more.

Nestled between Snowdonia and the Irish Sea, just off the A55 along the North Wales coast, Gwynedd’s Aber Falls Distillery – named after the 120ft Rhaeadr Fawr waterfall – sits at the heart of the community of Abergwyngregyn.

It may be a small village, with a population of just 240, but its roots stretch deep. Aber boasts the longest unbroken dwelling place in Wales, dating back to the Iron Age, and, under its historic name of Aber Garth Celyn, was the seat of Llewelyn ap Gruffudd, the last native Prince of Wales.

This connection with the history and culture of Wales is as important to James as it was winning at last year’s prestigious World Spirits Competition in San Francisco, where Aber Falls Orange Marmalade Gin won silver, and the Welsh Dry an unbeatable gold.

James’s passion and enthusiasm go a long way to explaining why Aber Falls has been such a success. He dreamt of establishing his own whisky distillery – the first in North Wales in over a century – and built around him a team of people perfectly suited to the business.

‘Every member of staff is from the local area, and they are trained from scratch so their skills are specifically designed for Aber Falls,’ explained James as he took me on a tour of the distillery.

All of the equipment is new, but it still manages to look wonderfully Heath Robinson, with myriad pipes and tubes, and its huge copper stills full of bubbling, swishing, fermenting spirits. Computers keep the process in careful check, but the men and women on the floor are key to making sure Aber Falls produces quality spirits.

‘It’s really important to listen to the machinery,’ James smiles. I peer through portholes into the boiling, bubbling vats of liquid destined to become North Wales’s first home-grown single malt whisky in 100 years. It takes three years and a day until a spirit has aged enough to be called a whisky, and James started producing in January 2018. Around 20 casks are produced every week.

A select few will be able to taste the earliest results in 2020, but eager whisky aficionados will have to wait until 2025 for the official launch.

‘This whisky is unique in both its production and its taste,’ explains James as we pass between Golchi and Gwirod, the two huge copper stills. ‘We use only authentic Welsh malted barley and fresh Welsh water.’

In the meantime, to keep the coffers full and to establish Aber Falls’s reputation for quality product, James has been producing gins and liqueurs, and recently launched a line of juniper and citrus gin, and a copper-distilled smooth and sweet vodka.

I’m amazed at how far the Aber Falls brand has travelled already, since it was launched at Llandudno Christmas Fayre in 2017.

‘We now export to China, Germany, Spain and France,’ smiles a proud James, ‘and by the end of this year we’ll be on the shelves at Tesco, Co-Op and Waitrose, and in Wetherspoon’s pubs.’

By the end of 2019, Aber Falls will also be drunk by Australians and Americans.

‘I want Aber Falls to be an international keystone business for Wales,’ asserts James as he shows me the range of drinks the distillery produces, from the deliciously homely Rhubarb and Ginger Gin, to the floral, aromatic Violet Liqueur.

James wants Aber Falls’s success to be shared by those who have helped it rise. The whisky is distilled, bottled and matured on site; the Anafon Hydro Scheme, which helps power the distillery, is community-run and the barley used in the fermentation process is grown locally by farmers. James plans further talks with farming unions to increase the amount of barley crop grown in Wales.

Even the stuff the distillery doesn’t want is recycled, as the waste pot ale is given to local farmers as fertilizer, and spent grain is reused as cattle feed.

Aber Falls also works with other Welsh businesses to produce its drinks portfolio. For instance, the Salted Toffee Liqueur was developed in partnership with Halen Môn Anglesey Sea Salt, while James and his “gin lab scientists” have consulted with Treborth Botanic Garden, and the Henfaes Grain Research Centre (both part of Bangor University), to develop the very best ingredients.

James has brought Aber Falls so far already, but ambition is like blood in his veins. By the end of 2019 a brand new Visitor Centre will have been built on site, welcoming the thousands of people who come to tour the distillery each year.

‘We’ll have three exhibition spaces, a restaurant, a cinema, and a gin lab,’ says James, showing me the detailed plans that line his office walls. ‘I hope it will become a hub to drive people to other attractions in North Wales.’

This sums up how James has made such a huge success of Aber Falls. His pride and ambition are clear, but it’s his need to take others on the journey with him, and to support the wider community, which shines through.

Aber Falls Distillery really is bursting with the Spirit of North Wales.