Irish Whiskey

From Waterford starts one of Ireland’s Greenways – cycling paths on former railway tracks, but the weather was so bad that we visited Waterford but left the bikes where they were (in the garage). We spent the night at the other end of the Waterford Greenway at Dungarvan and luckily the next morning it was at least not drizzling any more, we even got some sunny spells!

We took the bikes and cycled part of the Greenway from this end, which was very nice, very green, with tunnels and bridges and sea views.

Back at the official camper parking in Dungarvan, we packed the bikes and headed off in the direction of Midleton, smelling already the whiskey, which awaited us there.

The former Old Midleton Distillery, was turned into a museum / visitor centre for whiskey enthusiasts. The new distillery next door, is home to many Irish whiskeys such as Jameson, Powers, Paddy, Redbreast and Green Spot, previously produced in separate distilleries.

During our tour, we learned mostly about the old way, whiskey was produced, with the barley being grounded by a water-powered stone mill and so forth, but for sure much of this process is still very similar even in the modern distillery next door.

In 1886, there were 28 distilleries in operation in Ireland, however, by the 1960s, only a handful of these had remained. Reason for that were the rise of blended Scotch whisky, Prohibition in the United States and the Anglo-Irish trade war.

In 1966 three of these (John Jameson & Son, John Powers & Son and Cork Distilleries Company) chose to amalgamate their operations under the name of Irish Distillers and to close their existing facilities, and concentrate their operations in a new purpose-built facility to be constructed alongside the existing distillery in Midleton.

Luckily, the parking at the distillery allows campers to stay overnight. That way we could have dinner in town and then fall into our beds.

Tomorrow we want to explore Blarney Castle – more soon!