West Wales Distillery celebrates Awards

West Wales craft distillery In the Welsh Wind is celebrating 2 significant awards. Owners and directors Alex Jungmayr and Ellen Wakelam were recently named Food & Drink Entrepreneurs of the Year for Wales at the Great British Entrepreneur Awards 2020, and the business has been recognised as the best Rural Start Up in Wales at the Wales Start Up Awards.

The Welsh distilling sector is growing rapidly and has seen a number of distilleries opening up over the last few years. With its maverick approach to the industry, In The Welsh Wind, a small but ambitious craft distillery based just north of Cardigan on the West coast of Wales, is already standing out. A number of the gins that have been developed and are distilled by In the Welsh Wind have received national and international awards. These latest awards recognise the vision and the hard work the team put in on a daily basis to drive the business forward.

Ellen Wakelam, co-owner and director of In the Welsh Wind, said: “We are really excited to win these awards. The other businesses shortlisted in our categories in both the GB Entrepreneur Awards and the Wales Start Up Awards would all have made worthy winners. We can’t quite believe that we’ve won both, but it’s an honour to have been recognised for everything we’ve put into the business, and all the team’s hard work.”

Founded in January 2018, the distillery has cut its teeth on ‘custom branded spirits’, making over 35 different, bespoke gins for over 25 different businesses. It’s here that ex-England cricket captain, Michael Vaughan and the team at Declaration Drinks developed Declaration Gin which recently received 2 stars in the Great taste awards. Tenby Dry Gin, another gin developed and distilled by In the Welsh Wind with brand owner the Pembrokeshire Gin Co, has won no less than 8 awards.
In the Welsh Wind launched its own ‘Signature Style’ dry gin in July 2020. It is also pioneering a truly ‘grain to glass’ Welsh whisky and will do so by establishing the first malting house in Wales for over 100 years. Grain grown in the fields of West Wales will be malted in Wales rather than in England, and distilled and matured in West Wales. The whisky produced by the distillery will be 100% Welsh.

Alex Jungmayr, co-owner and director of In the Welsh Wind said “Our whisky project is hugely exciting. We’re working with the local farming community to create a sustainable market for their top quality grain, and at the same time, establishing a malting facility in Wales which will mean barley can stay in Wales before being distilled and matured into beautiful Welsh whisky here on the Welsh coast. We believe it will be the first truly grain to glass Welsh whisky for over 100 years ”.

To find out more about In the Welsh Wind Distillery, visit their website www.inthewelshwind.co.uk.