New Distillery Projects Overview

[TimF]

Hi folks,

I'm new, so please be gentle. I'm Tim Forbes and I work for The Whisky Exchange - I recognise a few of your user names / avatars from the less specialised forum I frequent more regularly

Don't worry, I'm not here to plug anything, but to ask for your help - I'm attempting to upgrade our St. Patrick's Day feature for next month. I spent most of yesterday wading through various topics on here (and links therefrom) to try and corral together the latest on the very fast developments of the last year or so, but I still have a few questions. I love Irish whiskey, but I'm only a dabbler compared to most of you folk, so I thought I'd throw them out there in the hope of taking advantage of your far more in-depth knowledge:

Firstly, I've read about West Cork Distillers’ infusion and maturation etc, but not much about an actual distillery apart from a passing mention in an Independent article – are they actually distilling there, and if they are, although most of their products are wood-matured savoury brown beverages at the moment are they likely to be whiskey in the future? Or are they buying in spirit from elsewhere and doing stuff to it? I couldn't find any references to whiskey anywhere on their website.

Secondly, I know Dingle and Alltech / Carlow are already distilling, but though I’ve seen mention on here of up to 14 possible new distilleries, I couldn’t find them all. Are there any other mooted distillery projects worth mentioning (in what is likely to be just a list in a very brief overview on the website) apart from the following:

Tullamore
Slane Castle
Derry
Horse Island
TWC, Dublin
Crumlin Rd
Feckin, Kircubbin

Any input much appreciated.

Many thanks,

Tim

[DavidH]

First off, welcome Tim! I'm sure we would all be happy to hear what you have going on at the Whisky Exchange when it comes to Irish whiskey so please feel free to chip in any time.

I think West Cork is a mystery to us all. I've made several attempts to winkle a bit of info out of them without success. I haven't given up though.

That's a good list you have there. They are all the distillery projects I know of that have been aired in public (and the Feckin I only know of because it was mentioned on this forum).

[TimF]

Thanks very much David - the list has been cobbled together after serious trawling of this forum and your own excellent site. After further consultation with Mr. Google, the mention of Feckin here is unique as far as I can see, I haven't been able to find anything else on it anywhere, so I'll probably not mention that one in case it's not meant to be public knowledge yet. Congrats to JohnM on the scoop! . My parents live not too far from there, so I'll tell them to keep their ears to the ground and if I hear anything I'll check it out next time I'm over. The others are publicly in the planning stage so that's fine.

I've had a private message from a rather more well-connected whisk(e)y writer that I'd asked about West Cork. Unfortunately it looks like I won't be mentioning them in the Irish whiskey section for the foreseeable.

WRT myself & TWE on here, I'll make sure I check in from time to time and see what's going on and I'll happily contribute what I can, though when I do so it'll be as a fan and an Irish whiskey drinker, I won't be banging the drum for TWE as that's not what these forums are about. Of course if anyone has any specific TWE questions I'll be happy to help if I can.

[TimF]

Forgot to mention that as TWE web editor I am responsible for all the written content on the site (I wrote all of it myself until a couple of years ago, but I have a couple of helpers now), so if there's anything factually wrong / out of date on there in the Irish sections (or anywhere else) I'd be very grateful for any info forum members care to share with me. TWE has got unexpectedly vast in the nine years I've been working here and updating the site is a necessarily Augean ongoing task.

[JohnM]

Gulp, I hope my information is correct... I read it somewhere and can't remember where. Maybe the Bladnoch forum. Raymond may have noticed a planning permission application. I also heard mention of a distillery planned for Wicklow that would produce whiskey solely for the Japanese market. Or maybe I dreamed this, as it sounds a bit bizarre.

I looked into opening a distillery myself, but other things (reality) got in the way.

[TimF]

I hate it when that happens. Pesky reality.

[JohnM]

It's mostly only a problem during my waking hours.

Isn't the brewery in Dingle also going to distill? I think it was the original venture with the Porterhouse people, but they went separate ways. Apologies if my information is correct.

John McDougall's website is a good source of information on the Dingle distillery, the distillery distillery, that is.

[TimF]

More circumstantial evidence corroborating my theory that the evolutionary process should be leading us all to a point where everyone can stay in bed all the time.

I saw passing mention of the 'other' Dingle distillery, but didn't see anything else on it and forgot to look further - cheers for the heads up.

[Good Whiskey Hunting]

I don't believe the Dingle brewery are going ahead with a rival distillery. I was on the area a while back and that was the word on the street.
I'll keep my ear to the ground and report back I anything changes.

[TimF]

Cheers G W H - I've emailed them but heard nothing back so far. They have a couple of interesting whiskey brands registered a few years ago, but that's all I could find.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

I popped into the Dingle Brewery in October last year and they said they were all a go on it. They even had an empty room with a sign of Still room over the door. Maybe it was all in jest but it sounded like at that stage they were on for it. I do know you've been down since Willie so you might expand on the word on the street .

[Good Whiskey Hunting]

I'll be down in the next few weeks and do some snooping.

Have you heard anything about a Monasterevan distillery project Tim?

[TimF]

Thanks gents, I haven't heard back from Dingle Brewery yet. Hopefully they haven't given up the ghost.

GWH, any info on Monasterevan much appreciated.