History:

The Army Welfare Project was established in 1974 with the aim of creating employment and post-service benefits for ex-servicemen. The first distillery was established in Gelephu in 1976. The AWP expanded, leasing the Samdrup Jongkhar distillery from Namdik Enterprises in 1979 and the Samtse distillery from Bhutan Central Distillers in 1981.

Samtse distillery has an installed production capacity of over 10 million cases per annum. The distillery blends and bottles brands like Black Mountain whiskey, Bhutan rum, gin and liqueurs.