Penderyn Icons of Wales No 4 / That Try (70cl, 41%)
That Try is the fourth bottling in Penderyn’s Icons of Wales series, each of which celebrates Wales and its people throughout the world. Released in time for the Rugby World Cup 2015, it is a tribute to the greatest try ever scored in Welsh rugby history (aka 'That Try'), scored by Gareth Edwards for the Barbarians against New Zealand on 27 January 1973 at Cardiff Arms Park.
Matured initially in bourbon barrels, it was finished in quarter casks which used to hold peated Islay whisky, resulting in a sweet and smoky spirit.
The first Welsh whisky brand, Swn Y Mor, was devised in the 1970s by The Welsh Whisky Company. The firm however, nor the rest of the country actually had a distillery at the time. The product was a somewhat controversial blend of Scotch malt and grain whiskies, and an eventual court case with the Scotch whisky industry. Three of the company directors were then jailed for Duty fraud, but all was not lost! A development funding grant from the EU had been used to develop a new type of spirit still, a project led by David Faraday at the University of Surrey. The result of this was the installation of a Faraday still at The Welsh Whisky Company's new Gwalia distillery in the Brecon Beacons national park, where today this increasingly popular Penderyn single malt is distilled.