Whiskey from Wales? Believe it, say the Welsh.

It is known for its love of singing and a passion for rugby. It has a distinctive Celtic language and is the birthplace of poet Dylan Thomas. But few would argue that Wales, a country of three million people, outnumbered by sheep, is known for its whiskey, or whisky, as it is known in Wales.

Yet the country has played a role in the history of distilling – a Welshman is considered one of the founders of bourbon – and a recent resurgence in whiskey production has led to new rules determining which spirit can call itself Welsh.

So began the trouble at Abergwyngregyn (pronounced ABER-gwin-gregin), in the shadow of the ice-capped Snowdonia mountains, where Aber Falls single malt whiskey is produced in a distillery filled with the strong malty aroma of barley.

Made using only Welsh grain and water from a picturesque nearby waterfall, the light, slightly fruity single malt whiskey distilled by Aber Falls was the first to be produced in North Wales in over a century.

The packaging is red – one of Wales' national colors – and bears an image of a dragon, the country's symbol. When the distillery opened in 2017, its mission was to “create a Welsh brand, support Wales and work with other Welsh businesses,” said Carole Jones, managing director.

But it still wasn't Welsh enough.

Last year, Aber Falls whiskey failed a test for certification as a protected Welsh product because bottling took place not at the distillery, but 50 miles across the border in England. The company had a choice: return the bottling to Wales, or ban any mention of Welshness from the label – even the red dragon.

That, said Mrs Jones, would have been a 'catastrophe' for Aber Falls, so by September bottling was back on Welsh soil, helping the company join a list with four other certified Welsh whiskey makers.

As uncomfortable as it was, the row over provenance underlines the growing interest in whiskey in Wales, where a small number of commercial distilleries are following in the footsteps of the most famous contemporary producer, Penderyn. In total, Welsh whiskey companies generate an estimated £23 million, or about $29 million, in revenue per year.

Although to some whiskey is synonymous with Scotch, Wales holds an unusual place in drinking history because a Welshman, Evan Williams, is hailed as one of the first bourbon distillers in the United States.

Historical details are sketchy and disputed, but according to Heaven Hill Brands, the producers of a bourbon named after him, Mr. Williams was born in 1755, emigrated to North America in the late 1970s or early 1980s and began distilling in 1783 . Louisville, KY. He probably grew up in Dale, Pembrokeshire, where his family may have owned a distillery.

The country he left behind never developed commercial production on the scale of Scotland or Ireland, but in 1889 a major producer, the Welsh Whiskey Distillery Company, was founded at Frongoch, near Bala, about 50 miles from Aber Falls.

It didn't survive long. In England, the reception of the whiskey was lukewarm. In Scotland it was cooler, and in Wales social forces rallied against it, including the temperance movement.

“Conditions in many of the factories and mines were so poor, and poverty so widespread, that there was a movement to bring people into Christian communities,” says Alexander Langlands, associate professor of history at Swansea University. “In hard-working, working-class communities, you really didn't want young men, fathers and grandfathers, and women in the family using the bottle. So there is a reason why it died – a cultural reason – here in Wales.”

It took a century, but the revival began in 2004 when Penderyn opened in South Wales. It expanded a decade later to critical acclaim.

“It's a whiskey I would keep in my collection,” says Vic Cameron, a whiskey lecturer at the University of the Highlands and Islands in Scotland, referring to a Penderyn single malt finished in a former Madeira cask.

While “Scotch took over the world,” Cameron said, whiskey can be produced anywhere grains grow.

“If you ferment it and distill it, it's whiskey,” he said. “And the Welsh have everything we have: they have decent water, they have malted barley and they have yeast, so they can make good whisky.”

Yet selling whiskey, said Dr. Langlands, who advised Penderyn on branding, often requires “a kind of mystique.” He said, “You really have to appeal to some kind of heritage.”

To this end, Penderyn uses an old copper factory in Swansea, while Aber Falls, on the banks of the rushing river that flows from the falls to the Menai Strait, distills in a 19th-century slate factory (previously used as a margarine factory). .

Starting with a workforce of just five, Aber Falls now employs 35 people, 29 of whom work in the distillery, with the rest in Bangor, about 10 miles away, where bottling now takes place.

Spirits were produced here for the first time in 2018, but whiskey must mature in barrels for at least three years, so it was not until 2021 that a single malt was released.

Last year, Britain, still adjusting to its departure from the European Union, introduced a system of 'geographical indicators' intended to replace a pan-European system intended to protect products such as champagne and cognac against imitations.

Aber Falls supported the new rules which required Welsh water to be used and the whiskey to be distilled, matured and bottled in Wales. But their fortunes fell when bottling in Bangor became unprofitable due to labor shortages and Aber Falls began turning to a parent company-owned site in Chorley, England.

With the coveted 'Welsh' designation on the line, the company moved quickly to resume bottling in Wales, helped by the closure of a local factory freeing up more workers.

Business is going well and last January the company switched to 24-hour distillation. About 6,000 bottles of whiskey are produced in Bangor every week and exports go to 40 countries, including China and Kazakhstan, with plans to add the United States next year.

In summer there are as many as seven distillery tours a day, attracting many of the thousands of tourists who visit the spectacular Aber Falls waterfall. Some of them are whiskey lovers. Others come for other reasons.

“It's something to do, especially when it's raining,” said Steve Bell, 65, a part-time tour guide.

Mrs Jones, the managing director, is 52 years old and was born and raised in Wales. She said there is now a big push from the government to “build the Welsh brand” – including gaining global recognition for its whisky.

That can pose a bit of a challenge.

Ms Jones said she believed her single malt was competing with those from Scotland, but she acknowledged that having missed a century of distilling, Welsh whiskey had lost its prominence.

“I think we still have a lot of work to do,” she said. “There are still people in many countries who don't know where Wales is.”