Dà Mhìle Distillery

The Free Bacchus Story

John, Patrice and Paula came to Wales from the Netherlands in 1981 and took on Glynhynod Farm, near Llandysul in Ceredigion, to farm organically. Patrice's cheese came first, Caws Teifi, and it is still made on the farm. Ten years on, John noticed there was no organic whisky to be had anywhere, and in 1992 he commissioned the Springbank distillery to make one.

The first bottles were released to toast the millennium, which is where the name comes from: Dà Mhìle is Scots Gaelic for two thousand. A second organic batch was commissioned from Loch Lomond in 2000, and in 2012 the family opened their own distillery on the farm. Welsh whisky is a small world, with seven distilleries by 2025, and Welsh Food and Drink reports that Dà Mhìle is the only one whose whole production is certified organic.

Every spirit comes off one still, Ceridwen, named after the Welsh goddess of the cauldron. It is heated with steam from wood felled on the farm, and a tree is planted for each one that comes down. Soil Association Certification lists the distillery as a licensee, and the family, now John's sons John-James and Robert, say every ingredient is organic, from the barley to the juniper, apples and molasses.

In July 2025 its Organic Single Malt Welsh Whisky won Best of Organic Spirits at the BOOM awards, run by Soil Association Certification and tasted blind, ahead of Nc'nean's organic single malt Scotch. The 2026 single malt release comes from a single Marsala Dolce cask, filled in February 2019.