A distillery in west Wales has seen sales surge after appearing on TV chefs the Hairy Bikers new show earlier this month. In the Welsh Wind, based in Ceredigion, said sales of its spirits and Welsh Cask Vinegar has increased 400% after it appeared on the Hairy Bikers Go Local television series.
Traffic to the distillery's website also peaked as viewers logged on to buy the vinegar after the chefs, Si King and Dave Myers, chose it as one of three innovative local products to match with a neighbouring restaurant.
The distillery, located near Cardigan, produced its first Welsh Cask Vinegar in 2021, using unsold beer that was going to be poured away due to the Covid-19 lockdowns. The product was the result of a collaboration with Bluestone Brewing Co and Orkney Craft Vinegar.
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The distillery said it sold out of its entire stock of vinegar almost instantly, while its award-winning Palo Cortado cask-aged gin and Dewi Sant gin also proved a big hit with online buyers.
Co-founder Ellen Wakelam said: "We have been truly overwhelmed by the response we had to our appearance on The Hairy Bikers Go Local. We spoke to some of the other businesses who had appeared on earlier episodes and they told us that they had seen a huge surge in demand – so we were ready.
“We took the precaution of pre-packing most of our vinegar for posting before the programme aired which gave us a head start but we still had an intensive day packing up all the orders we received - only to find that our courier's van broke down. Thankfully, there wasn’t much impact and the orders are on their way to our customers.”
She added: “We enjoyed meeting Dave and Si and introducing the distillery to them. We hope through the show that more people will have enjoyed finding out about the distillery, our products and the area where we're based.”
The distillery will be producing more of its Welsh Cask Vinegar to keep up with demand. It is also now pioneering the first fully Welsh whisky using barley grown in the fields of south Ceredigion and north Pembrokeshire, entirely processed and matured at the distillery site in west Wales.
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