Irish Whiskey: Stories and Sips
Episodes
In this episode of Stories & Sips I spent a very enjoyable afternoon chatting with Jarlath Watson, global brand ambassador and part of the founding team of the extraordinary Echlinville distillery. We sipped on some Dunville's Irish whiskey and I learned more about the history of this storied brand and Echlinville’s impressive approach to growing, malting and distilling.
It’s been 175 years since legal distilling has happened in Ireland’s North Western-most county of Donegal. That changed with the establishment of Sliabh Liag Distillers - founded by husband and wife team James and Moira Doherty who uprooted their family from Hong Kong to pursue a passion.
He built an Irish pub group, he became the world’s biggest seller of Jameson, he launched his own Irish whiskey, he sold the pubs, he sold the whiskey and he’s still not done.
In this episode of Stories & Sips, I chat with Co. Mayo native Kieran Folliard about his extraordinary drinks adventure in Minnesota and what it took to sell more Jameson than anywhere else on earth.
Daithí O’Connell is the founder of W.D. O’Connell Whiskey Merchants. It's safe to say that the whiskey merchants of old didn't have previous experience flying planes in the Middle East or setting up pubs and financial technology companies in Asia, but Daithí is a modern whiskey merchant with a hint of the renaissance man about him. It might just be the beard...
John Quinn serves as global brand ambassador for Tullamore D.E.W., one of the most recognized brands in Irish whiskey, a company he has played a role in growing since his early days with Irish Distillers. In 2016, John was named Whiskey Brand Ambassador of the year by Whisky Magazine’s Icons of Whisky Awards, and in December 2018 he was appointed as Vice Chairman of the Irish Whiskey Association.
In 2019, John became the first Iris...
Growing up even closer to a distillery than I did, this week’s guest Jack Ferris, is the United States National Brand Ambassador for Bushmills. I’ve fallen more and more in love with the single malts from Bushmills over the past year and I had questions, many questions for Jack about Bushmills past, present and future. I hope you enjoy our chat.
This is the first episode in a series of conversations I'll be having with the founding team of Ireland Craft Beverages. They are about to launch their first ever Irish whiskey and are allowing me to follow that journey as they set about getting it on shelves all over the world. Launching a whiskey brand is no small undertaking and I hope you're as interested in me in learning what it takes. In this first in our series foll...
Teeling has remained a bit of an enigma to me over the past few years as I've tried to get my head around the myriad of brands they produce.
To put me straight and get my head around the company and their approach, I sat down with Robert Caldwell, Teeling Global Brand Ambassador to help me understand what Teeling is all about, the philosophy behind its distillation and maturation and what we might expect from them going forward...
Today we are seeing a resurgence in demand for Ireland’s quintessential style of Irish whiskey - pot still whiskey. New distilleries all over the country are distilling and maturing single pot still whiskey in the hopes that it once again becomes the world’s most consumed and demanded Irish whiskey. In the late 1700s and throughout the 1800s and well into the 1900s single pot still whiskey ruled the world. As domestic and global ev...
Outspoken and passionate, Peter Mulryan is determined to build on Irish whiskey's rich, diverse history and recipes, and with a healthy pour of innovation ensure that his Irish whiskey takes advantage of the best of Irish whisky’s past and present.
I’m a fan of what Peter and his team at Blackwater Distillery are doing and in advance of the launch of their newest sourced whiskey, Velvet Cap, I'm excited to share our chat wi...
One woman has been part of the story of Dingle and the distillery since before this crazy idea to distill in one of Europe’s most westerly towns was hatched. Her name is Mary Ferriter and there is no Dingle Distillery without her. As General Manager and Global Ambassador for the Dingle Distillery, she has observed and managed its growth from a unique perch.
In this episode of stories I chat with Mary about the early days of the dis...
The rise in demand for Irish whiskey around the world over the past ten years has led to the building of new distilleries in Ireland and the establishment of new whiskey brands, bonders and bottlers.
This evolving mixture of established multi-century brands and new risk-taking upstarts makes for a more diverse, more energetic and more interesting Irish whiskey landscape than we’ve had in Ireland in more than a century.
Fueled by pa...
In the fight for Irish rights in the early 1800s, there is one dominant name - Daniel O’Connell - known as The Liberator or The Emancipator. O’Connell, a Kerryman, campaigned for Catholic emancipation - including the right for Catholics to sit in the Westminster Parliament, something that was denied for more than 100 years—and repeal of the Acts of Union which combined Great Britain and Ireland.
He was a legendary figure and had a...
This week I caught up with Eric Ryan - a man with a remarkable range of experience, knowledge and historical interest in whiskey and especially whiskey from Cork in the south of Ireland, where we’re both from.
Eric is a founding member of the Cork Whiskey Society, founder and host of the Cork Whiskey Walk, which I was lucky enough to join Eric for last year, and he applies his brewing and distilling knowledge working at the Midleto...
This year, the much-anticipated first whiskey releases will leave the gates of Waterford Distillery. The distillery's intense approach to all aspects of whiskey production, starts long before distillation or fermentation or even harvesting of the barley. It begins months in advance of the sowing through nurtured partnerships and planning with the farmers who'll supply the crop. This is the part that Grace O'Reilly, Irel...
The growing demand for Irish whiskey has inspired new innovation by Irish whiskey distilleries across every aspect of fermentation, distillation and maturation.
It's not just the distilleries that are innovating either. New whiskey brands are finding unique ways to collaborate with distilleries to bring products to the market that may not have become a reality without such a collaboration.
One of these collaborations has launch...
As someone who grew up in a “Powers house” - that is, a house that stocked a bottle of Powers “just in case” (in case of what was never made clear) I have come to understand the enduring love that people have not just for Powers whiskey, but for the Powers brand.
It is a storied brand, a beloved brand, a part of Irish history and an integral part of Irish whiskey past, present and hopefully future.
This enduring love for Powers...
In the 1800s, the city of Limerick on the banks of the River Shannon, played a prominent role in the production and eventual export of Irish whiskey to the four corners of the world.
It’s been 101 years since the last distillery in Limerick went silent but one man is determined to restore the city to its former whiskey distilling glory. Building on the rich distilling heritage of this important Irish port city, Limerick native Nick...
On a warm summer's day last year, my buddy Omar Fitzell from thatsdramgood.com and I managed to talk our way into the famed Distiller's Cottage on the hallowed grounds of the Old Midleton Distillery (now silent).
This is the cottage where Midleton Master Distiller Emeritus Barry Crockett was born. Today it is home to the Irish Distillers Archive and hosts the members of the Midleton Cask Circle, a club for purchasers of cas...
I spent a jaw-dropping day with the team at Waterford Distillery to learn about their approach, their beliefs and sample some of their maturing spirit. In this episode of Stories & Sips, I share my thou...