Irish Distillery Tour

juvenal

Hey folks,

I was back in Ireland last month and visited the four whiskey tour sites around the country - Jameson Bow St, Jameson Midleton, Bushmills and Kilbeggan. I had looked around online, including here on boards.ie, but most of the info was outdated or sketchy. As such, here’s a brief synopsis of my experiences - hopefully someone finds it useful.

First visit was to the Old Jameson Distillery, Smithfield, Dublin 7. What remains of the original buildings is now converted into apartments, small business units & offices, the Jameson visitor centre with a bar & restaurant and of course the ubiquitous gift shop! It’s €13 for an adult entry, which includes the tour and a drink of the NAS Jameson at the end. It begins with a 10 minute video, after which you are brought through eight or nine different areas showcasing the different parts of the original distillery. Unfortunately the overall space is small and it feels like the displays and old machinery are crammed into the space with little thought. After the tour, eight people were selected for a tasting (yours truly being one), and you do a tasting between Jameson NAS, Jack Daniels, and Johnnie Walker (think it was Black), and you get a commemorative cert with your name on it. Everyone on the tour gets a Jameson, served at their choice - neat, rocks, ginger ale or cranberry.

Next up was a visit to the Bushmills Distillery, Bushmills, Co Antrim. This tour costs £7 (€8.15), and is through the modern working distillery, taking you right though the industrial plant, and shows you the complete modern distillation process in real life. While we were there on Friday it was operational, although that ceased on Friday evening as on the following Monday morning HM Customs were making their quarterly visit to assess what duty was owed on all spirits produced in the previous three months. Even though it was silent during our tour on Sunday, it was fascinating to see the modern distillery operation, and where the use of technology has been married with the traditional methods and equipment of distillation. Our guide was a 33-year veteran of Bushmills who began doing tours four years ago when a back complaint prevented him from continuing work on the production side. He was excellent, and chatted freely about all topics from the Diageo buyout from Pernod Ricard, to the effect of the Troubles on tourism and whiskey production. Included with this tour is a tasting at the end of your choice of White Bushmills (which they refer to as 5yo), Black Bush (referred to by staff as 8yo), 12yo Distillery Reserve or the Bushmills 1608 Anniversary Edition – a nice touch that there is a choice.

Next on our list was the Old Midleton Distillery in Midleton, Co Cork. As with Dublin, it’s €13 for adult entry, and begins with a 10 minute video presentation. It’s a carbon copy of the one you see in Dublin, with minor changes in narrative to fit the Cork location. After that you are brought through the restored spaces where they use the large buildings to much greater effect and have far more old machinery and artifacts on display, some of which are still working. You walk thought the various buildings and outside over a large site and it’s easy to visualise the old distillery in it’s heyday. This is not an operational distillery, more of a visitors centre; the actual modern distillery is next door and not open to the public. Midleton was far more enjoyable and worthwhile, although in both places there was a slight subtext always pushing the Jameson brand, and while you’d expect it to a certain degree, they comes across as a little more corporate than their northern counterparts. As with Dublin, Midleton finishes with eight people selected for the same tasting, and receiving a certificate at the end. Overall this tour outshines it’s Dublin cousin in every way, in layout, size, and guide, although the latter two are in some ways out of Smithfield’s control.

Finally it was off to Kilbeggan Distillery in Kilbeggan, Co Westmeath, which is owned by Cooley. I had been in touch with Cooley, and they advised to go here instead of their Co Louth distillery, which happened to tie in nicely with a family wedding that was in the area. I called in here on an awful rainy Thursday afternoon, and arriving at 3.20pm the staff gave me a student price as they close at 4pm. This is self-guided, and shows the traditional distillery restored to it’s former glory. The mill wheel is still working, and they have a lot of old machinery, tools and paraphernalia that gives the air of a museum. It’s extremely casual, and my only companions were four Dutch people filming a travel show. I was lucky enough to meet two of the three on-site distillery staff who actually were in the process of mashing a blend of barley and rye, and were more than happy to chat away to me for twenty minutes about Cooley and the practises in Kilbeggan. It was extremely casual in Kilbeggan, and thoroughly enjoyable, and after I was done wandering around the site, I was treated to a full tasting along with the Dutch crew and the distillery manager who was doing some on-camera interview work for the travel show. A case of being in the right place at the right time!

Overall the Bow Street tour is the least entertaining from both a tourist's and whiskey aficionado's point of view. I may be a bit harsh on it, but the Midleton tour has everything that Bow Street has and much more. I would send tourists to Smithfield if they had an interest and were not travelling anywhere else in the country, but it’s the least attractive of the four. Bushmills is fascinating and I would highly recommend a visit to anyone who even has a passing interest in distilling. Even Mrs Juvenal (who’s more interested in the consumption rather than the production side!), enjoyed it. It’s capable of entertaining both tourists and whiskey lovers alike. Kilbeggan is very casual, and you really get a sense of raw history from the site (if you’ve ever been to Kilmainham Gaol you’ll know what I mean). It’s well maintained but not too polished that it feels like a corporate site, and being self-guided you can work through at your own pace. They also are now a working site 7 days a week so you’ll more than likely meet the staff who distill on site, all of whom are very approachable in my experience.

I picked up a bottle of the distillery reserve at each site, although Kilbeggan were sold out and their new release was scheduled for the market before Christmas. Just as well, as three bottles was already over our limit flying back out of Ireland. The distillery reserve at Bow Street and Midleton are different whiskies, and are also packaged differently. Also pictured is the 12yo Bushmills Distillery Reserve.

Jameson Bow St Smithfield 12yo Distillery Reserve


Jameson Old Midleton 12yo Distillery Reserve


Bushmills 12yo Distillery Reserve


Apologies for rambling on, I hope this may be of some use for anyone who is considering a visit to the sites around Ireland. I didn’t want to go into too much detail about each tour, but if you have any questions feel free to post them and I’ll be happy to try and answer.

Sláinte.

jenningso

I've been to Bushmills, Midleton and Kilbeggan. Bushmills would be my favourite, loved the place. You can't beat getting a tour of a working distillery or brewery! :pac:

juvenal

Yeah, I was there briefly on Friday but they were shutting down production at that stage in advance of the customs inspection, they have to begin 72 hours or so in advance. I must go back for a visit next time I'm in that part of the country to see it in full operation.