Impressions: Pangeans love whiskey (or whisky as it is known in those jurisdictions that have something against an extra vowel) and this particular Pangean has a fondness for Irish single pot still whiskey. Of late, Writer’s Tears – Copper Pot by Walsh Whiskey Distillery has been this Pangean’s ‘go to’ bottle on the shelf. Therefore when a stop on the emerald isle was added to a recent tour the prospect of seeking out the ancestral home of my favourite dram was a powerful draw. Other Pangeans on the team were also interested, more by the process than by the ultimate product. On both bases we were not disappointed.
Although Walsh Whiskey has been around since about 1999, up until this year actual distillation took place at an undisclosed — wink wink — Midleton Distilleries Complex — wink wink — location. However, earlier in 2016 and with the help of a 25 Million Euro outside investment, the reality of a stand-alone, state of the art, craft distillery came to fruition. The Distillery and Tour officially opened in June 2016. The location and grounds in County Carlow Ireland are beautiful and many of the facilities are obviously new. From the entrance gate (with each of its stones reputedly disassembled and reconstructed with a wide enough stance to allow access by buses) to the driveway that gently curves through the pastures and mature oak, to the views of Holloden House (built circa 1755), to the ruins of the old barns and stable yard, to the shiny new distillery building, the grounds are a visual treat. Maybe it was the fact that this particular group of Pangeans arrived on a splendid autumn day, but the colours and views were beautiful.
The website and promotional literature suggest that the ultimate plan is for Holloden House to be restored so that it can house a visitor centre with tasting room, gift shop, tea room and other facilities. However, for now all of the visitor services are run from the distillery building itself. The tour, the cost of which includes a sample of The Irishman Single Malt Founders Reserve, takes approximately one hour. The current tour takes you first to the main boardroom, then to the lobby for a discussion of grains, the malting process, and the joys of the water from the Barrow Valley Aquifer (sitting immediately below the distillery). From there you are led through the facility to the fermentation tanks and are invited to breathe in the smells of the grains and wort as they become ready for the distillation process. You can even poke your head into some of the tanks that have been recently emptied. It is all a very sensory experience as you can feel the heat from the tanks, smell the heady aromas, hear the hum of the machinery, and see the gleaming copper and stainless steel. After dropping off phones, cameras and other electronic equipment that would pose an explosive hazard due to the high alcohol content in the air within, you then are taken into the stillhouse itself. The staff are obviously proud of the fact that the facility is the only independent distillery in the world to make all three types of whiskey: pot still, malt, and grain. In the single stillhouse there are both three 15,000 Litre copper pot stills and an approximately 12 metre high column still that together provide a capacity of 650,000 cases annually. The procedures and benefits of each process were explained and you can smell the output from various levels as well as the final clear, sweet-smelling product. The facility is state-of-the-art, with the emphasis on distilling as an “art”. The process is almost entirely manual, with the still masters making decisions by eye, nose, and hydrometer reading. The tour then concludes with a return to the bar in the lobby area for a taste of one of the Walsh Whiskey offerings. Usually this is the aforementioned The Irishman Single Malt Founders Reserve, but on the day we visited the guide was pouring Writer’s Tears (apparently a combination of 8, 9, and 10 year old “single pot still” and “single malt” whiskeys).
If you are in the area near mealtime you should also check out The Pint Depot, a small, authentic pub in Royal Oak. Great service, incredibly friendly staff, good food, and Irish horse racing on the televisions – what more could a hungry traveler want?
I suspect that the people of Royal Oak, the nearby town of Muine Bheag, The Pint Depot, and Walsh Whiskey Distillery do not yet understand how many people will be attracted to the area. The “Second Golden Age” of Irish Whiskey is upon us and the Walsh Whiskey Distillery will be an important stop on any tour.
Details: The Walsh Whiskey Distillery is located at Royal Oak, Clorusk Lower, Carlow, Ireland. The cost of the approximately one hour tour (with tasting) is 15 Euros per person. As of November 2016 they run Tuesdays through Fridays at 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, and 16:00. Tel: +353 59 918 6653 Email: booking@walshwhiskey.com Website: walshwhiskey.com
Links: Full Gallery: http://pangean.org/photography/walsh-whiskey-distillery/
Walsh Whiskey website: http://walshwhiskey.com
Rating: P P P P P P The Walsh Whiskey Distillery tour is awarded 6 out of possible 7 P’s, or “Excellent” on the Pangean scale from “Avoid” to “Phenomenal”. This is as close as you can get to the almost unattainable 7 P’s.