Welsh Music, Food & Drink

 

 

Welsh Music

If you look in Wikipedia/Google for the words Wales and Music your search will net thousands of matches!

Wales is still very much the land of song, and a lot of song at that.  Many people think of Welsh music along the lines of traditional choral music and not much else, which is unfortunate as we have so much more to offer.

Most people have heard of Tom Jones  but did you know that Bryn Terfel, Shirley Bassey, Duffy, Jon Langford, Charlotte Church, Jem, Katherine Jenkins, The Lost Prophets, The Automatic, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, The Peth, The Manic Street Preachers, The Stereophonics, People in Planes and The Super Furry Animals are also Welsh.

One of the many things we do as part of the Chicago Tafia is encourage and support Welsh musicians on tour in the Chicago area, some of the musicians we have worked with over the years includes: The Pendyrus, Bangor, Penrhyn, Black Mountain and Burlington Male Voice Choirs, Julia Jones & The Brit Bus Tour, Chris King, Cerys Matthews, Here Be Dragons, David Llewellyn and many others.

A great resource for looking up and listening to Welsh music is MySpace.  If you have a chance please visit our MySpace page at www.MySpace.com/ChicagoTafia to see some of our recommendations. Or for a more broad perspective on the Welsh music scene visit the BBC Wales website: www.bbc.co.uk/wales/music

 

Click below for some really interesting links to some new Welsh music labels:

 

Dockrad Records - www.dockrad.com

Fflach Records - www.fflach.co.uk

Sain Music - www.sainwales.com

Food & Drink

We often hear the questions "Does Wales make beer" or "Does Wales make whiskey", the answer to both is yes!  Beers from the Felinfoel and Tomos Watkin breweries are available in the United States & Canada, as is the fine Welsh whiskey Penderyn.  In the Chicago area they are all widely available at Binny's Beverage Deopt, Sam's Liquors and other good retailers.  Unfortunately Brains has yet to make the leap to the US.

Felinfoel (Beer) - www.felinfoel-brewery.co.uk
Contact Thames America Trading in California about distribution in your area: www.thamesamerica.com

 

Tomos Watkins (Beer) - www.hurnsbeer.co.uk
Contact St Killian Importing in Boston about distribution in your area: www.stkillian.com

 

Penderyn Whiskey - www.welsh-whiskey.co.uk

 

Brains (Beer) - www.sabrain.co.uk

The following is a very interesting find, a Welsh style cider called ‘Gales’ brewed
in Madison, Indiana.  The owners grandfather was from Wales and
brewed cider during prohibition, the bottle features a large Red Dragon
and at $5.99/litre the price can't be beat: www.thomasfamilywinery.us  

 

There are also a couple of respected Welsh owned vineyards out in California.

 

Ambyth Estate Winery

510 Sequoia Lane

Templeton, CA  93465

Phone: 805-305-9497

Website: www.ambythestate.com

 

Cambria Winery

5475 Chardonnary Lane

Santa Maria, CA

Phone: 805-937 8091

Website: www.cambriawine.com

 

Welsh-American Whiskey!

 

Did you know that the ‘Evan Williams’ family distillery was originally located in Dale, Pembrokeshire! And that the family of Jasper Newton "Jack" Daniel emigrated from Aberystwyth, Wales.

 

The Williams distillery opened in 1705, however the family later emigrated to the USA during the temperance period of the Welsh non-conformist church and helped found the Kentucky whiskey industry, a number of high quality bourbons are sold under the Evan Williams name to this day.

 

www.evanwilliams.com

www.jackdaniels.com