DUBLIN WILL GET its second dedicated whiskey museum later this year when the Irish Whiskey Museum opens its doors in August on Dublin’s College Green.
The museum will open above the iconic James Fox cigar shop after a €1.9m refurbishment, currently being carried out by Irish contractor Noclun. The owner, Extreme Ireland, is projecting 100,000 visitors in its first year of operation, rising to 230,000 after five years.
A spokesperson said that the museum hopes to capitalise on the growing popularity of Irish whiskey in the US market, where it has traditionally lagged behind the Scottish industry. Current forecasts see the market for Irish whiskey potentially tripling in size over the next five years.
The company behind the venture also runs a tourism office out of the same address on the bottom floor of the building. A total of 25 jobs are promised when the museum opens.
Interactive tours
Covering several floors and five rooms, the museum will include exhibitions on the history of Irish whiskey, a bar, and interactive posters that will see the founding fathers of the Irish whiskey industry ‘come to life’ for a barney over which product is superior.
Contemporary brands like Jameson, Bushmills and Tullamore Dew will be exhibited alongside smaller Irish distillers such as Teelings and the Dingle Distillery.
The museum will tell the story of Irish whiskey in its 1800s heyday. Brand names such as George Roe may have faded over time, but the pre-eminent distiller of the time and his contemporaries will come back to life at the College Green location.
Collectors of whiskey memorabilia have been sending rare items in for exhibition at the site, including (empty) bottles from the peak 1800s period, when hundreds of distillers competed for lucrative export and domestic markets.
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