Irish Whiskey
Bushmills Co. Antrim
Working distillery with museum
Bushmills claim to be the "Worlds Oldest Whiskey Distillery" is based on the unquestionable fact that a seven-year licence to distil dating from April 20th 1608 is accredited to the distillery.
Situated near the town of Bushmills in Co. Antrim the distillery has had a chequered history including being destroyed by fire in 1885. It is now part of the Irish Distillers Group having been purchased in 1972.
Bushmills produces many fine whiskeys the most well known being Bushmills Original and the classic Bushmills Black Bush both are a blended grain and malt whisky. However they also produce Single Malt Bushmills at 10, 16, and 21 year olds
Cooley Distillery Co. Louth
Working Distillery
The Cooley Distillery name is in Irish distillery terms, is a newborn infant. In the late 1980s the Ceimici Teo Distillery in Dundalk was renamed The Cooley Distillery more Irish sounding and marketable.
Initially the distillery had its problems, not least of which was cash flow and the attempted takeover bid by the Irish Distillers Group. Eventually the distillery found backing from a number of international companies including Moet-Hennessy.
This strengthened the company and enabled it to revive distillation in 1995. Cooley has since gone from strength to strength including the development of supermarket brand label whiskeys,
The Cooley distillery also acquired the John Lock and Tyrconnell brand names and in 1996 launched the Connemara a pure pot still peated single malt whiskey. The Cooley whiskeys are transported by road for maturation at the Old Locke's Distillery buildings in Kilbeggan in Co. Westmeath
John Jameson & Son Dublin
Old Bow Street Distillery Dublin The distillery is now a museum
Situated in the north of Dublin about 5 minutes walk from the River Liffey. The Steins Family established the original distillery, which was purchased by John Jameson in 1780. At one time the distillery could claim over a million gallons of whiskey maturing in the cellars of the distillery.
In 1966 only four distilling companies remained operational in the Republic of Ireland. These companies including John Jameson & Sons merged to establish Irish Distillers so to keep the Irish whiskey spirit alive. This new partnership opened a state of the art distillery in Midleton Co Cork and Jameson’s whiskey distillation moved to outside Dublin.
Locke's Kilbeggan Distillery Co Louth
Now a distillery museum and maturation warehousing for the Cooley Distillery
Established in 1757 is believed to be one of the oldest licensed distilleries in the world.
The three natural raw materials required for whiskey distillation were readily available. A supply of peat from the bogs. The locally grown grain and water from the Brusna River. The water from which contains minerals from the limestone catchment area and the influence of the peat bogs these combined to create the distinctive flavour of the whiskey.
A branch of the Grand Canal extended into Kilbeggan with the proximity of railway stations located at Horseleap, Tullamore and Clara, provided ideal supply and delivery links to the outside world.
Midleton Distillery Co. Cork
Working distillery with museum
The Midleton distillery is responsible for the majority of Irish whiskey produced today.
The distillery started life as a woollen mill in 1796. By the 1820s the buildings were lying empty until three brothers James, Daniel and Jeremiah Murphy decided that the perfect purpose for these fine buildings should be the distillation of whiskey.
Initially run as a family concern calling them selves James Murphy & Co they eventually amalgamated with several other local distillers to be come identified as the Cork Distillers Company.
The Midleton Distillery had many advantages being situated in the countryside not least of which were the low operating overheads as opposed to those experienced by the City Distillers. The Midleton also boasted not only Irelands but the world's largest still with a capacity of 31,618 gallons.
In 1966 The Cork Distillers Company amalgamated with their city rivals John Jameson & Son and John Power & Son together these three formed the Irish Distillers Group. The newly formed company decided that a new all purpose distillery would be built at Midleton which would allow for expansion.
Irish Poteen
Poteen was produced in Ireland according to legend, from the time when the first potato was harvested. The term 'Irish moonshine whiskey' commenced from around 1660.
A levy was then introduced on the legal distillation of spirits carried out privately and unless the operator was licenced by the State, it would be deemed an illegal act and therefore a criminal offence.
Not surprisingly, it then appeared that a substantial element of the Irish population was elevated to the 'criminal classes', overnight!
Traditionally the spirit is produced from potato, malt or grain.
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