Whisky firm singed by wrong dragon

A WELSH whisky manufacturer has been forced by the Welsh Government to stop using a particular symbol of a Welsh dragon.

Penderyn Distillery launched a £1m advertising campaign in New Zealand which has proved somewhat controversial in the southern hemisphere country. The advert described Wales as the “New Zealand of the North” – but added: “... only we’re 100% open”.

The NZ Herald news organisation described this as: “What can be read as a stab at Aotearoa’s [Maorilanguage name for New Zealand] pandemic border restrictions.”

The distillery “accidentally” used “y Ddraig Goch”, which Visit Wales secured a trademark for in 2016, instead of its own logo. Although the Visit Wales dragon and Penderyn logo are similar, there are differences with the Visit Wales dragon having three feet on the ground – whereas the distillery dragon is standing on two legs and has a slightly more upright body.

Most Kiwis seemed to take the joke with good humour. But when Visit Wales discovered that its logo was being used, it contacted Penderyn to get the images taken down.

A Penderyn spokesman told the Daily Telegraph: “The use of the Visit Wales logo was an honest mistake which we are eager to rectify after the government brought it to our attention. The campaign has been a little tongue in cheek. In this fight, the Visit Wales dragon has breathed fire that singed us a little.”

A Visit Wales spokeswoman said: “The specific logo used in this case was part of the registered trademark of the Cymru Wales brand. We would, of course, not restrict use of the Welsh dragon generally.”