We’re a Welsh distillery, proudly championing Welsh gin and a grain to glass Welsh whisky – so why is our website not in Welsh? Why are we not (yet) using the Welsh language in our business?
Let’s start with our name – In the Welsh Wind. Our distillery name precedes the distillery by several years. It’s a name we coined as we embarked on our walk around Wales back in 2013 – ‘in the wind’ is a saying used in relation to those working in espionage who disappear – and we were watching a lot of Spooks at the time! We were about to set off on our own adventure along the coast path of Wales and it very much felt like we were heading into the Welsh wind. We wrote a blog under this name as we progressed documenting our travels, and it came to mean a huge amount to us.
That journey was pivotal for us, cementing our commitment to each other and to a life together in west Wales where I (Ellen) grew up. We returned home and although it took a few years before our business crystallised, the name remained a constant in our lives. When the time came, In the Welsh Wind was the only natural name for our distillery.
When we are questioned about this, and asked why we are not using a Welsh language name, we say that the name alone does not – and cannot – define how ‘Welsh’ we are: our ‘Welshness’ comes from our commitment to our community, to sourcing goods and services where possible from within Wales, working with local farmers, setting up the first malting house in Wales for over 100 years so that our barley can be malted here rather than in England, and providing opportunities for our young people so they can develop skills and hopefully remain in the area rather than having to leave (as I did) to look for work elsewhere.
What of the website? Again we are not yet using the Welsh language in all our online communications but we are still a very young business trying to take on the world. When we started out, we did not have the funds or the capacity to set up the website in both languages, but please be assured that this is very much a priority for us. Welsh is important to us – nearly everyone who works here is either a Welsh speaker or a Welsh learner and we welcome this. Welsh is spoken in the distillery and we try to accommodate visitors in Welsh. We would very much like a bilingual website and using the Welsh language is something we’re working on for 2021.
So if you wonder why we are not using the Welsh language as much as you might expect, we say please be patient. We’re working hard to produce award-winning gins – many for other Welsh businesses, to develop a grain to glass Welsh whisky which champions grain grown locally to us, and to grow a sustainable business creating jobs and opportunities in the area. A bilingual website will be with you soon and we will be using the Welsh language more prominently – but like a good whisky – doing it right takes a bit of time!
If you’d like to read this blog in Welsh, please click here!