Irish Whiskey Trail

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

I have a feeling that I have come across a site like this before but it may now have been relaunched and is much improved or a completely new venture.

Check out

http://www.irelandwhiskeytrail.com/

[DavidH]

Indeed, a lot of work has gone into that. Very polished and it has good, solid info. Any idea who's behind it?

[Whiskey Pilgrim]

Kaixo Guys,
With so much happening in recent years to the Irish Whiskey renaissance,To show case our heritage The Irish Whiskey Trail is the brain child of probally Irelands only independant Whiskey Sommilier Heidi Donlon,invite her to your tastings she would be a great asset to the Society.

[JohnM]

There's some info about her and an interview with her on www.whiskycast.com.

I'm not sure whether she had know about the new distillery (hopefully) in Dingle or the operation of the Kilbeggan distillery when the interview was done.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

I've been chatting to Heidi lately and she is aware of Cooleys progress but not sure about Dingle. I have invited her to attend once we're up and running properly or just join the ranks.

[jcskinner]

She'd be a great asset, alright.

[jcskinner]

Heidi Donnelon has launched her Irish Whiskey Trail formally. Here's the info I received:

A New Irish Tourism Concept - Ireland’s Best Known Independent Whiskey Expert – Heidi Donelon Launches Ireland Whiskey Trail
A route with the best whiskey pubs, bars, shops, distilleries & museums in the country!

Monday 6th July 2009: The Ireland Whiskey Trail is the brainchild of Heidi Donelon, Ireland’s most renowned independent whiskey expert. For many years Heidi has conducted master classes, seminars and Irish whiskey tastings throughout Ireland & Europe. This interaction and constant communication with consumers of different nationalities, led Heidi to the realisation that Ireland, unlike Scotland and the United States, did not promote itself as whiskey destination, with a tourism product to match.

The Ireland Whiskey Trail – www.irelandwhiskeytrail.com - was her solution. Ireland is credited with having invented whiskey and the Ireland Whiskey Trail is the ultimate consumer and tourist guide to everything that is best about whiskey in Ireland.

The Ireland Whiskey Trail includes the distilleries and whiskey museums of Ireland, as well as the best whiskey pubs, hotel bars & shops in the country. The website and corresponding brochure provide all the necessary information for visitors to include whichever distilleries, pubs, etc. they wish into their itinerary. Alternatively, people can build their visit to Ireland around the Whiskey Trail and make their own Whiskey Journey of Discovery around the country.

The Ireland Whiskey Trail includes the four whiskey distilleries and whiskey museums in the Republic of Ireland. These distilleries are the perfect place to learn about the history and heritage of whiskey, as well as the ancient skills of distilling, maturing and blending. They are open to the public throughout the year, offering guided tours and whiskey tastings in the impressive surroundings and old walls of these former distilleries.

Ireland is, however, as famous for its many pubs as it is for its fine whiskey, and no Irish Whiskey Trail would have been complete without including the best whiskey pubs and bars in the country. This particular whiskey journey took Heidi to every corner of Ireland and she has unearthed many interesting and unusual pubs, full of history, character, characters and great whiskeys. Every pub and bar is unique and has been selected because it offers either an excellent range of different Irish whiskeys, or because it has a historical link to one of Ireland’s old whiskey distilleries.

The Ireland Whiskey Trail also includes some of the best hotels and golf clubs in Ireland, each with a bar specialising in Irish whiskey. Inevitably, having sampled Irish whiskey, many people want to buy a bottle or two to bring home, so the Whiskey Trail also includes the best stocked whiskey shops in the country.

There are dozens of whisky shows throughout the world, each one attracting thousands of consumers annually, as well as numerous specialised international whisky magazines, and these provide Ireland and the Whiskey Trail with an ideal, and previously untapped, tourist target market. Wine tourism is big business around the world, but for Scotland it's been all about the whisky. Scotland has, for many years now, capitalised on its whisky heritage and last year more than 1 million people visited distilleries, an increase of 12% on 2007.

The Ireland Whiskey Trail has been backed by Irish Distillers, the Cooley Distillery and C&C, as well as the pubs, hotels and shops participating in the Trail. Despite the economic downturn, Irish Distillers, Cooley and C&C had no hesitation in backing the Whiskey Trail, by investing in and supporting a new venture which will not only benefit sales of Irish whiskey, but critically, which will also benefit publicans and Ireland as a whole. Traditional pubs are in decline in Ireland, yet are an integral part of our heritage and have a hugely positive image abroad. With the Whiskey Trail, these distilleries and pubs have found an innovative way to tap into an important new market. And the first indications are that the Whiskey Trail is already proving a success – Locke’s Kilbeggan Distillery has already enjoyed growth in visitor numbers in both April and May this year.

The Ireland Whiskey Trail is also a challenge for Irish people to rediscover their whiskey heritage and some of the whiskey brands which are enjoying such international success and acclaim abroad. With home holidays such a topical feature at present, it offers the would-be whiskey connoisseur an interesting and appealing Whiskey Window to Ireland.

Heidi has also done extensive research into Ireland’s lost distilleries, tracing back our whiskey heritage. In 1886, when Alfred Barnard wrote his famous book “The Whisky Distilleries of the United Kingdom”, he visited 28 distilleries in Ireland. All these distilleries were large, famous and most were exporting well beyond our shores, as whiskey in those days was one of Ireland’s most important exports and was very much the Rolex of its time. Heidi recreated that journey, researching in detail these old – and often forgotten – distilleries, to uncover the stories of these lost and irreplaceable former distilling power houses. Her research now provides the most comprehensive web based information source to Ireland’s old distilleries and can be found under the Whiskey Heritage section of The Ireland Whiskey Trail website.

In 2010 Heidi plans to expand the Whiskey Trail, researching the old distilleries and finding the finest whiskey pubs of Northern Ireland.

ends

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Hi JC as we had covered this before I have merged topics.

Grand bit of detail in your post though

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Looks like Heidi has caught some excellent PR ...

Check this out

[Pudge72]

Just wanted to bump this older thread I found to let people know that the IWT is working. My wife and I are in the early stages of planning a trip to Ireland sometime next year (either April/May or September/October to avoid the high tourist season and the related bump in room rates that go with it). Unfortunately, it will likely only be for one week (still trying to figure that part out) so we will be having some long days possibly as we will try to get to as many historical sites as possible (we're both history enthusiasts whenever we do get a chance to travel).

My wife found the IWT (before I did!! ) while doing some initial research. It seems like a really cool website that I must explore further as we plot our itinerary. A big from this side of the pond to those who have been involved in this endeavour.

I will likely post some new threads in the next couple of months as I have a fair number of questions about looking for good pubs, accomodations, distillery tours, etc (based in large part on our findings on the IWT. My wife, while very supportive of my whisk(e)y obsess...hobby, is not herself a fan of whiskey, so the trip will be accented by, not significantly focused on, whiskey related stops.