Arfon’s Emyr Gibson has been an actor and singer for 20 years, playing characters in many popular drama programmes on the Welsh Language Television Channel S4C.

He is most well-known for playing Meical in the popular soap opera Rownd a Rownd for 18 years. He has also appeared on Hidden (2018) and Forgotten Journeys.

Born in the Arfon village of Deiniolen, he is also a member of Trio, alongside Steffan Lloyd Owen and Bedwyr Gwyn Parri.

But a slightly more unexpected aspect of Emyr Gibson’s life and work is that he is also co-owner at the relatively new formed Afallon Môn Gin company. And in a special event in Caernarfon last week, the actor discussed the company’s history and establishment, giving attendees an opportunity to taste local, high-quality gins.

Afallon is a mythical island featured in Arthurian legend, as the gin company’s website explains.

“Afallon, the mystic isle that lies beyond the spatial and temporal world of mortals resonates well with its sister island of Mona.

“Each shares an enchantment that is intrinsically Celtic.

“From a past where magic and the mystical have always informed reality, the isle of Mona’s uniqueness lives on through its land and its people.”

The gin itself was formed by the acclaimed master distiller Gerard Evans, using water from a 200-year-old well located at the company’s distillery housed in a refurbished eighteenth-century Welsh barn on Ffarm Bedo.

Sited near the village of Llanfachraeth, the farm has been worked by the Owen family for generations. Arwyn Owen, also an actor and his brother Gethin, together with friends Emyr Gibson and Keith Williams had been planning to launch the enterprise for five years before they finally took the plunge.

But last week Emyr attended a special event in Gwynedd to raise funds for Gŵyl Fwyd Caernarfon.

This year Gŵyl Fwyd Caernarfon is held on 13 May.

“It is estimated that 50,000 turned out for Caernarfon’s food festival last year, and in 2023 the event is expected to be just as big.

And one of many events held throughout the year to fundraise was a gin tasting held last Friday, 21 April, at the Welsh Highland Railway’s station in Caernarfon. The event will be held through the medium of Welsh.

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