Welsh vodka crowned best in country

Nation.Cymru Staff

A west Wales distillery has been recognised among the country’s best vodka producers once again after picking up a top industry award.

In The Welsh Wind Distillery in West Wales has struck gold and won the best in Wales title for its Three Grain Vodka the second time in three years at the World Vodka Awards.

Their Three Grain Fodka Cymreig is built from barley and rye grown in Wales and distilled at the distillery in Tanygroes, near Cardigan, with wheat spirit added to round things out.

While vodka is often made to be as neutral as possible, In The Welsh Wind has taken the opposite view, deliberately creating a vodka with a grain character customers can taste.

It’s an approach that sits squarely with the distillery’s wider work – creating spirits that carry a sense of place rather than hiding it. The vodka is bottled at 43% ABV and presented in the distillery’s 70cl bottle.

Ellen Wakelam, founder of In The Welsh Wind, explained: “We’ve never been interested in making a vodka that tastes of nothing.

“Three Grain is our own barley and rye, with wheat spirit brought in to smooth everything out, married slowly here in Tanygroes and bottled the way we like it, until it has a character all of its own.

“To win gold and be named Wales Country Winner once was something we were proud of. To win exactly the same prizes again, three years later, from the same panel, tells us we got something right and have stayed true to it. That consistency matters to us more than any single award.”

Three Grain Vodka is best sipped over ice or lengthened with a mixer. The distillery recommends it with Double Dutch Cranberry and Ginger tonic water for “a refreshing but grown-up serve”.

In The Welsh Wind was set up after its founders, Ellen Wakelam and Alex Jungmayr, took a 1,047-mile walk around Wales on which they were granted time “to see where we might go next.”

They set up the distillery, based north of Cardigan in the former Gogerddan Arms, and now create their spirits in a state of the art 5,000 litre whisky still, as well as copper pot stills named Meredith and Afanc.

The distillery produces single malt whisky, blended Welsh malt whisky, gin and vodka rooted in Welsh provenance and character, able to “politely close the rule book of tradition and wade into all that is new and undiscovered in the world of craft distilling”.

As well as the best in Wales title for its Three Grain Vodka, they have also seen success at the World Gin Awards, Global Gin Masters, and the World Whiskies Award.

The Three Grain Vodka and other award-winning drinks are available to purchase from their site.