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Tiny Rebel and Hensol Castle Distillery team up on Welsh whisky
Newport-based brewery Tiny Rebel has announced a Welsh whisky collaboration with Hensol Castle Distillery created using a malted barley beer wash.
Hensol Castle Distillery has announced the collaboration this week following 18 months of partnership with Tiny Rebel.
Tiny Rebel has been contract brewing a 100% malted barley beer wash for the past 18 months, which serves as the foundation for the distillation process taking place at Hensol Castle Distillery. The beer wash recipe has been developed by Hensol Castle master distiller Dai Wakely and Mark Gammons, head brewer at Tiny Rebel, to make the upcoming single malt Welsh whisky.
Exactly 12 months ago, the distillers laid down their first 200L ex-Jack Daniels barrel of Welsh single malt whisky.
It marks the South Wales-based distillery’s first foray into the whisky category. Its current portfolio of products include two ranges of gin (Hensol Castle and Benjamin Hall), Judge Jenkins, a Spiced Rum and Maraschino Cherry Spiced Rum, and a range of liqueurs named Trulo.
Master distiller Dai Wakely said of the whisky: “We’re hoping to carve ourselves a place alongside other esteemed Welsh distilleries, such as Penderyn and Aberfalls.”
Founded in 2021, Hensol Castle Distillery has the capacity to bottle up to six million bottles of spirits per annum, currently serving 80 worldwide brands. In 2019, Bottlers and Distillers Wales announced it had joined forces with the Vale Resort to construct a distillery and visitor experience at Hensol Castle in South Wales as part of a £7m investment in the 17th century castle.
Collaborations are a key part of Hensol Castle Distillery’s business. Last year, Welsh Rugby Union player Sam Davies and his semi-professional footballer fiancé Elianna Chavez kicked off a partnership with Hensol Castle Distillery with the release of a new gin. Read more here.
The whisky will be available for purchase from March 2026, as the liquid is only one year into the three-year resting period.