Imagine yourself happily producing whiskey in Ireland during its peak in the 1860s and 1870s. The industry is modern, forward thinking, enjoying a glorious heyday with around 28 distilleries churning out millions of gallons of whiskey every year. Within a matter of only a few years Irish whiskey is already in decline.
The focus on quantity has created over production while its reputation for quality spirit has not benefitted from as much attention. Irish spirit is being sold in bulk to be sold on as ‘Scotch’ blend. There is very public industry infighting and the dastardly successful and competitive Scotch industry is outflanking you.
Clearly the Irish whiskey industry had suffered from a series of bad decisions and was in trouble well before the unhappy sequence of world events hit the 20th century. After a world war, a war of independence, a civil war, a trade war, a war on alcohol and another world war, the Irish Whiskey Boom of the 19th century had very much ended. It continued to decline until, by the 1980s, just two of the original distilleries survived.
It’s the saddest of stories for whiskey enthusiasts, but are any of these Irish whiskeys still available to buy today?
Anyone who has searched for whiskies from lost Scottish distilleries will know how challenging the hunt can be but it’s even more difficult to taste specific closed Irish distilleries as you will see from our list!
So what were all these distilleries that didn’t survive the 20th century and when did they close?
Abbey Street
1790-1925
Avoniel
1882-1929
Bandon
1826-1929
Bishop’s Water
1827-1915
Bow Street – John Jameson & Son
1780-1971
The Bow Street distillery sold whiskey by the barrel to Spirit Bonders and Publicans who then bottled the whiskey on their own premises using labels supplied by the distillery.
The distillery supplied the labels and capsules and the Publican inserted their own name on the label.
Coleraine
1820-1978
There was a Coloraine Irish Whiskey blend and a Coleraine Single Malt 1959 34 Year Old that occasionally turn up at auction.
Comber
1825-1953
When the Comber distillery was eventually sold in 1953 the new owners sold off the spirit and the distillery equipment was sold for scrap. James E McCabe bought the remaining casks (and brand name) in 1970 and sold as Old Comber.
Connswater
1886-1929
Cromac
1776-1930
Dundalk
1708-1926
Glen
1802-1925
John’s Lane – James Power & Son
1796-1976
Not to be confused with new John Power & Son Whiskey which has been distilled at the New Midleton Distillery in Cork since the mid 1970s.
Jones Road
1873 -1945
Jones Road Distillery amalgamated to become part of the Dublin Distillers Company Ltd along with Marrowbone Lane Distillery and Thomas Street Distillery.
Kilbeggan – Locke’s – Brusna
1757-1958
Not to be confused with Kilbeggan or Locke’s which were later produced by Cooley.
Limavady
1805-1914
Limerick – Walker’s – Thomond Gate
1820-1905
Marrowbone Lane – William Jameson & Co
1700-1920s
Marrowbone Lane distillery amalgamated to become part of the Dublin Distillers Company Ltd along with Thomas Street Distillery and Jones Road Distillery.
(Old) Midleton
1825-1975
Any bottles of Midleton distilled after July 1975 originate from the (New) Midleton distillery.
Monasteravan
1784-1921
North Mall
1779-1920
Nun’s Island
1846-1915
Phoenix Park
1878-1921
The Green
1796-1980
The Royal Irish – Dunville & Co
1868-1938
The Royal Irish Distillery most famously produced Dunville’s, not to be confused with Dunville’s relaunched since the 1990s.
Thomas Street – Roe Family
1757-1926
Thomas Street Distillery amalgamated to become part of the Dublin Distillers Company Ltd along with Marrowbone Lane Distillery and Jones Road Distillery.
(Old) Tullamore
1829-1954
Tullamore distillery produced Tullamore single Irish whiskey and Tullamore Dew which was a blend, not to be confused with the Tullamore Dew blend that began to be produced at the New Midleton after 1975 or Tullamore D.E.W. which was relaunched by William Grant & Sons after it bought the brand in 2010 and has its home at the New Tullamore distillery founded in 2014.
Also look for early bottles of Irish Mist that were produced at the Tullamore distillery in the 1950s.
Waterside
1820-1925
