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Updated 14.15
ALMOST 50 YEARS after the last distillery closed down in Drogheda, a new whiskey producer will soon fire up the stills in the County Louth town.
The €20 million Boann Distillery development will also incorporate the Boyne Brewhouse craft brewery and a visitor centre with a bar, restaurant and event space.
While the brewhouse is already producing beers, the distillery won’t start producing raw spirits through its copper pot stills until later this year. The entire complex is expected to be open next year, employing an estimated 80-plus people.
The Enterprise Ireland-backed business will be owned and run by CEO Pat Cooney, a Drogheda native who built up soft drink maker and alcohol distributor the Gleeson Group, alongside his wife Marie and four of their children.
The Gleeson Group was sold to the C&C Group in a 2012 deal that valued the business at €58 million. The family is also behind the Adams Cider Company, which makes the Devils Bit Irish Cider brand.
“I’ve been in the drinks industry for the past 40 years and it has been a nagging ambition to establish a distillery of my own,” Cooney said.
To be able to realise this ambition, with the encouragement and participation of my wife and family, is a great bonus and to be able to establish this project in this super building in my home town is a multiple bonus.”
The Drogheda distillery, the first to produce whiskey in the town since 1968, will be the latest in a raft of new facilities to open across the country as part of a recent Irish whiskey resurgence.
Tomas Clancy / TwitterVery much looking forward to it @Boanndistillery also anxious to see your v v gorgeous wooden Mash Tun pic.twitter.com/JLF9NzlLS1
— Tomas Clancy (@tomasclancy) August 19, 2015
Exports of the product have increased 220% since 2003 and the industry is targeting a further quadrupling of that output within 15 years.
Irish Whiskey Association head Miriam Mooney said the Boann Distillery announcement was another clear sign that Irish whiskey was “on the way back” with 26 new distilleries in various stages of planning across the country.
“The potential is massive when we compare Ireland to Scotland, with over 130 Scottish distilleries in operation, bringing investment and employment into rural areas,” she said.
The new distillery and brewhouse will produce single malt, pot still and blended whiskies on-site, as well as a “small-batch, premium gin” and a range of craft beers from the 50,000 sq ft complex.
First published 6.20am
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And when they are coming to Ireland? I’m asking for, er…..a friend.
The bears on the left look a lot Happier ….
There used to be 10 bears on the left but the others got the munchies
Visited a pot shop in Cortez Colorado. It was great to go in, have a chat with the assistant and select a nice mellow blend. Went home bbq, a few beers and blazed up a bowl. Be great to be able to enjoy it responsibly here too. It should be this easy. Dealers lose, customers get top quality, tax gets paid on it.
But that makes too much sense
That’s really the way to go. Was in Portugal last year but the problem was that you’re still at the mercy of street dealers, well at least until you make some local friends. That and it’s mainly hash which cuts the lungs out of me. It’s great hash but not my thing.
We scored some seriously good grass this year in Portugal Poole, like you I hate hash and only use green. We got twice the amount for the same money we would have paid in Ireland, you just have to be very careful who you deal with – avoiding street dealers. Made some great cookies and discovered strawberry frubes the absolute munchie food, sadly not available here :(
Have you got a link to those strawberry frubes. As a munchies aficionado, I’m intrigued :)
Sorry they are called frubis not frubes :( made by a Portuguese company called Nutry. They are supposed to be available on Amazon but always out of stock. https://www.google.ie/search?q=nutry+frubis&prmd=ismvn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwib3aGguOXPAhXFIsAKHWkIDN0Q_AUIBygB&biw=800&bih=1280#imgrc=voQNybSslgCQ4M%3A
Weeds not addictive.. says every stoner, sure it’s not
I remember in the local video store, the film Flesh Gordon was on the shelf beside Flash Gordon. Caused a bit of embarrassment.
You’d have been mortified if you came home with “Flash Gordon” by mistake.
I just spent the afternoon eating Pot noodle after Pot noodle and I feel nothing except a trip to the bathroom coming on.
Well now is the season if you want to get up early and stroll the fields to go mushroom picking. Bit of extra flavour for those Pot noodles. Just dont go reading Wheres Wally books after.
I love a pot tart now :)
Won’t somebody think of the sugar tax?!
Someone give some to Trump, do he might calm down.
cannabis candy kills
Ermmmm… I’m gonna go with no it doesn’t. If accid nylon consumed (as can happen in this case), then it’ll cause some anxiety and upset as you wouldn’t understand what’s going on, however there’s not one single case of an overdose death from cannabis or marijuana anywhere in the world ever.
Have you seen the amount that’d have to be consumed in order to kill? It’s approximately 3.3 lbs per pound of body weight.
Cannabis should not be sold in the form of children’s sweets no matter how harmless it may or may not be.
Gimme gammy gummies!
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