BREWERY TO LIFT OUR SPIRITS WITH SC-RUM-PTIOUS IDEA
A WELSH brewery is set to become the first in Wales to launch its own rum.
Coles Family Brewers want to follow Penderyn’s model by putting Welsh rum on the map like the Brecon company has done for whisky.
And similarly to Penderyn they plan to create tourism around their brand, by offering distillery tours and building a visitors’ centre.
Based in the village of Llanddarog, Carmarthenshire, the Coles family has owned the White Hart thatched inn for 24 years.
Marcus Coles, his brother Cain and wife Annabelle, started producing their own beers and lagers when they established the brewery side of the business in 1999.
After deciding to make their own cider six years ago, the family-owned business is now looking to branch out into the spirits trade by opening their own distillery and making rum, whiskey, gin and vodka.
Marcus said the move would make them the first brewery in Wales to make their own rum.
“Obviously we are passionate because we are adding thing to the business all the time,” he said.
“We own a restaurant where everything is on site and spirits were just the next thing to do after the beers and ciders.
“We looked at the traditional still for whiskey but we didn’t just want to make whisky, we also wanted to make rum, gin and vodka.
“We want to make everything on site.”
Engineer Cain has designed and built all the stills which will be used in the distillery, capable of making 9,000 bottles of spirits a week.
He said: “The stills can be made into three different types.
“When you make whisky they become traditional stills, which they have up in Scotland.
“Not many people know but when you make vodka you are legally required to make it at 96% so we do that and then we add water to get it down to around 40%. And when you’re making gin, you have to make vodka first before it can be turned into gin.”
He added: “We can’t sell the whiskey yet because it has to be more than three-years-old before it can be classified as whiskey but we can sell light rums.”
The family have visited Chicago to receive training in how to produce spirits.
After investing more than £1.5m into the new venture, Marcus said he is hopeful there will be tourism opportunities.
He added: “We’re also going to build a visitors’ centre and do distillery tours like they do at Penderyn Distillery.
“The pub that we have has got a thatched roof so we already get a lot of American tourists. I think the distillery will lend itself as a tourist attraction.”
Coles Distillery has already struck up some business interest and is having talks with companies keen on purchasing their bottles.
Marcus said: “We have had a few big companies say they are interested in our products but we can’t mention any names at the moment.
“We have got machinery coming from Italy to put screw caps on the bottles, which we believe is the modern way, and we’re also expecting labelling machinery. We’re also in the process of designing a gift box to go with it.”
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