Q: Can you tell us a bit about your journey from being a fisherman to opening Penrock Distillery?
A: I grew up in Looe, Cornwall and went to sea fishing commercially. By the age of 21, I was skipper of my own trawler, however, the government began to restrict days at sea in an attempt to conserve fish stocks. For me, it meant I couldn’t earn a living only working 90 days a year. I sold my boat and left the industry. My hobby had been playing the banjo and once i had time on my hands, I decided to take a trip to Nashville, Tennessee. On my first trip there, I met my wife Missy, who plays the fiddle and after a few trips back and forth, we decided to marry. I spent the nest 21 years living and working in Tennessee. As you can imagine, moonshine and distilling, are common around the area and I eventually found myself drawn to the whole idea. Online research lead me to my now good friend Sherman Owen, who taught me all there was to know. The next step was to get a job at Beechtree Distillery, on the South side of Nashville. However, after living abroad for so many years, I really found myself missing Cornwall, so in 2016, I moved back home to Looe with he idea of starting my own whiskey distillery.
Portbyhan use Penrock Silver in our Pina Coladas
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