Welsh Gold
The Welsh Gold is Penderyn’s own serve for its Madeira whisky, and it is a sour: 100ml of Penderyn Madeira, 50ml of freshly squeezed lemon juice and 50ml of honey syrup made with a bay leaf, shaken vigorously for a minute and strained into two chilled glasses, served immediately with a peel of lemon. About 2.3 UK units a glass. Madeira here is the whisky, not the wine. Penderyn’s page describes it as aged in ex-bourbon barrels and finished in Madeira wine casks, with cream toffee, rich fruit and raisin on the nose, at 46% ABV. In our view the lemon is what keeps all that honey and toffee from turning heavy. The recipe is written for two. Halved, it is 50ml of whisky, 25ml of lemon juice and 25ml of syrup for one glass. Penderyn prints it beside four other serves for the same bottle.
Glassware: Coupe Glass
Garnish: Lemon peel a peel of lemon, as Penderyn says; the cut is not specified
Ingredients
100ml
Penderyn Madeira, the whisky, not the wine: aged in ex-bourbon barrels and finished in Madeira wine casks, 46% ABV on Penderyn’s page. The 100ml is for two glasses.
50ml
The juice of two or three lemons, as Penderyn says. Squeezed just before the shake.
50ml
Penderyn’s own: 50ml of runny honey simmered with one bay leaf and 50ml of water for five minutes over a medium-low heat, until thickened. Only 50ml of the syrup goes into the shaker.
Instructions
Make the honey syrup: put 50ml of runny honey, one bay leaf and 50ml of water in a saucepan.
Bring to the boil, then simmer for five minutes over a medium-low heat, until thickened.
Strain 50ml of the syrup into a cocktail shaker.
Add 100ml of Penderyn Madeira whisky and 50ml of freshly squeezed lemon juice, the juice of two or three lemons.
Top with ice cubes, cover and shake vigorously for a minute.
Strain into two chilled glasses and serve immediately, garnished with a peel of lemon.
Source: the producer's own published serve (Penderyn, on its Madeira product page under the name Welsh Gold; it makes two glasses; the glass is ours, Penderyn names none). Last checked 19 October 2026.
Expert Tip
Let the syrup cool before it goes in the shaker. Penderyn simmers it until thickened, and a hot syrup melts the first of the ice before the shake has chilled anything. Squeeze the lemons the same day. Penderyn’s 50ml is the juice of two or three lemons, so buy three, because lemons vary in what they give. A minute is a long shake. Use plenty of ice and a shaker that seals, and strain straight away into chilled glasses, because the serve is meant to go out immediately.
Behind the Welsh Gold
Flavour Profile
Where the Recipe Comes From
Penderyn’s own Madeira page prints five serves for the whisky: Iechyd Da, Welsh Gold, Autumn in Wales, Pengellyg (Pear Head) and The Penderyn Club. This is its Welsh Gold as published: 100ml of Penderyn Madeira, 50ml of freshly squeezed lemon juice, honey syrup and ice, shaken for a minute. We have added only the glass, which Penderyn leaves open.
The Whisky
Penderyn’s own site says the first spirit ran from its still on 14 September 2000, after more than a hundred years without whisky production in its home country, and that Penderyn Single Malt launched on St David’s Day, 1 March 2004.
The Madeira the serve names is matured in ex-bourbon barrels and finished in Madeira wine casks, with cream toffee, rich fruit and raisin on the nose. Penderyn gives the palate as “crisp and finely rounded, with the sweetness to balance an appetising dryness”.
The Structure
The proportions are two parts whisky to one of lemon juice and one of honey syrup, which is a sour’s frame: spirit, citrus and sweetener. The syrup is as large as the lemon, so the sweet and the sour are matched, and the toffee and raisin of the Madeira sit on the sweet side of the glass.
The bay leaf is the one unusual note. It simmers with the honey and water, so it flavours the syrup rather than sitting in the glass, and in our view it gives the honey a faint herbal edge.
The Honey Syrup
Penderyn makes it from 50ml of runny honey, one bay leaf and 50ml of water in a saucepan: bring to the boil, then simmer for five minutes over a medium-low heat until thickened. Fifty millilitres of the syrup goes into the shaker. Simmering thickens it, so let it cool before it meets the ice.
The serve as Penderyn publishes it for two glasses, with one glass beside it; the strength is Penderyn’s own figure for the Madeira and the units are our calculation
Penderyn Madeira whisky
- Two glasses
- 100ml
- One glass
- 50ml
- ABV
- 46%
- UK units a glass
- 2.3
Freshly squeezed lemon juice
- Two glasses
- 50ml
- One glass
- 25ml
- ABV
- None
- UK units a glass
- None
Honey syrup
- Two glasses
- 50ml
- One glass
- 25ml
- ABV
- None
- UK units a glass
- None
| Ingredient | Two glasses | One glass | ABV | UK units a glass |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Penderyn Madeira whisky | 100ml | 50ml | 46% | 2.3 |
| Freshly squeezed lemon juice | 50ml | 25ml | None | None |
| Honey syrup | 50ml | 25ml | None | None |
The Shake
Penderyn’s instruction is to shake vigorously for a minute. We give most sours 10 to 15 seconds, so this is a much longer shake, and more of the drink is water by the end. Follow it for the published serve; shorten it if you want a sharper, stronger glass.
How to Serve It
Strained into two chilled glasses and served immediately, garnished with a peel of lemon, as Penderyn says. It names no glass; we use a coupe.
For another sour on the same whisky, the Snowdonia Sour brings elderflower and lemon.
Make it at home
The Spirit
Penderyn Welsh WhiskyPenderyn is a single malt whisky made by the Penderyn distillery in Wales, which, by Penderyn’s own account, first ran spirit in 2000 in a village in the Brecon Beacons foothills. Its signature Madeira bottling, aged in ex-bourbon barrels and finished in Madeira wine casks, is 46% ABV; the lighter Legend and Myth are 40%. We use it in three recipes, always pouring the Madeira bottling.
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Penderyn should I use for the Welsh Gold?
Is the Madeira in a Welsh Gold wine?
How do I make the honey syrup?
Does it really need a minute’s shake?
How strong is a Welsh Gold?
Is Penderyn the first Welsh whisky?
What should I eat with a Welsh Gold?
Sources.
Correct as of 19 October 2026.
- Penderyn, “Our story” (maker’s own page: Wales had not produced whisky in over a hundred years; foothills of the Brecon Beacons; first spirit ran 14 September 2000; Penderyn Single Malt launched on St David’s Day, 1 March 2004; Faraday still designed by Dr David Faraday, a relative of Michael Faraday, single distillation at 92% ABV).
- Penderyn, “Penderyn Madeira 70cl” (maker’s own page: aged in ex-bourbon barrels and finished in Madeira wine casks; cream toffee, rich fruit and raisin on the nose; palate “crisp and finely rounded, with the sweetness to balance an appetising dryness”; 46% ABV; prints five serves, among them Welsh Gold: 100ml Penderyn Madeira Whisky, 50ml freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 to 3 lemons), ice; honey syrup of 50ml runny honey, 1 bay leaf and 50ml water, boiled then simmered 5 minutes over medium-low heat until thickened; 50ml of syrup strained into the shaker; shaken vigorously for a minute; strained into two chilled glasses, garnished with a peel of lemon).
- Penderyn, “Penderyn Legend 70cl” (maker’s own page: Dragon Range whisky at 40% ABV).
You Might Also Like
Snowdonia Sour
The Snowdonia Sour is a Penderyn whisky sour: 50ml of the whisky, 25ml of fresh lemon juice, 15ml of elderflower liqueur, 10ml of simple syrup and an optional 15ml of egg white, shaken hard and strained into a chilled coupe, with a lemon wheel. About 2.6 UK units, taking the Madeira Finish at 46% ABV. It is our house whisky sour for St David’s Day. The sour frame suits Penderyn’s light body, and the honeyed malt shows through the lemon instead of fighting it. Elderflower liqueur takes part of the sugar’s place and gives the drink a floral middle, so it tastes of hedgerow rather than of syrup. With the egg white, dry shake for 10 to 15 seconds before the ice goes in, then shake hard for 10 to 12. The foam holds the lemon wheel. Without it the drink is sharper, clearer and quicker to make.
Honey Sour
A Honey Sour is a Whiskey Sour sweetened with honey: 60ml bourbon, 25ml fresh lemon juice and 15ml honey syrup mixed at two parts honey to one of warm water, shaken hard and double strained over a large cube in a rocks glass. A 15ml egg white is optional and gives it a soft foam, with three drops of Angostura on top. Honey changes more than the sweetness. It adds a floral, waxy note on top of the bourbon’s vanilla and caramel, and more body than sugar syrup. The drink sits between the Whiskey Sour and the Gold Rush, the bourbon, lemon and honey drink that Punch credits to T. J. Siegal at Milk & Honey in New York, in 2000 by its account and 2001 by VinePair’s. The Honey Sour adds back the egg white and the bitters, with a little less syrup. No one is recorded as its inventor. It is a sweetener swap on a sour. Difford’s Guide dates the first written sour recipes to Jerry Thomas’s 1862 guide and the oldest known whiskey sour mention to a Wisconsin newspaper of 1870. A glass holds about 2.4 UK units.
Gold Rush
A Gold Rush is 60ml bourbon, 22.5ml fresh lemon juice and 22.5ml honey syrup, made with twice as much honey as warm water. Shake it hard for 10 to 12 seconds, strain it onto a single big cube in a rocks glass and finish with a lemon twist. About 2.4 UK units. Punch credits T.J. Siegal, at Milk & Honey in New York, with the idea sometime in 2000, and VinePair dates the drink to 2001. T.J. Siegal, a friend of the owner, Sasha Petraske, ordered his usual Whiskey Sour and asked for it without the egg white and with honey syrup in place of sugar. The change stuck, and the drink became a modern standard. Honey does more than sweeten. It tastes faintly of flowers and wax, gives the drink weight that sugar syrup cannot, and sits comfortably with the vanilla and caramel in bourbon. With no egg and no bitters, the Gold Rush is plainer and heavier than a Whiskey Sour, and quicker to make.
Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 19 October 2026