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Darryl McNally: Master of The Liberties

Irish Whiskey: Stories and Sips

Release Date: 11/25/2020

Darryl McNally: Master of The Liberties show art Darryl McNally: Master of The Liberties

Irish Whiskey: Stories and Sips

In fact as I marveled at the return of distilling to Ireland’s capital, right on cue, a truck full of barley arrived, ready for Master Distiller Darryl McNally to turn it into single malt irish whiskey and I watched as its contents were magically emptied from the truck straight in through the wall of the Dublin Liberties Distillery.

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Irish Whiskey: Stories and Sips

Irish whiskey has a fascinating past - we’ve had many great conversations about the rise and fall and rise again of Irish whiskey on this podcast. One of the most fascinating aspects to me of Irish whiskeys past is the role of whiskey bonders and bottlers - those middlemen who purchased casks of whiskey from the distilleries and bottled under their own label or matured the whiskeys further, selling the whiskeys on in their own pub or distributing to others to sell.

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Alex Loudon – Ireland’s Rainwater Whiskey Maker show art Alex Loudon – Ireland’s Rainwater Whiskey Maker

Irish Whiskey: Stories and Sips

In October this year, Ireland had 34 operating Irish whiskey distilleries. As we settle in to November, we now find ourselves with 36 distilleries on the island of Ireland producing Irish whiskey. 

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Dave Mulligan: Ireland’s Proud Poitín Purveyor show art Dave Mulligan: Ireland’s Proud Poitín Purveyor

Irish Whiskey: Stories and Sips

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John O'Donovan – Irish Whiskey's Global Retailer  show art John O'Donovan – Irish Whiskey's Global Retailer

Irish Whiskey: Stories and Sips

For every whiskey business, there are hundreds of ancillary businesses that, working together, help us get the whiskey into our glass wherever we are in the world. 

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Fionnán O’Connor – Ireland’s Pot Still Whiskey Historian – Part 2 show art Fionnán O’Connor – Ireland’s Pot Still Whiskey Historian – Part 2

Irish Whiskey: Stories and Sips

Before the available choices of single pot still whiskey stretched beyond two – Green Spot and Redbreast 12, one man had fallen in love with both the spirit and its history. Today, Fionnán O’Connor, my guest on the podcast, is recognized as one of the foremost experts on the history of single pot still whiskey.

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Fionnán O’Connor - Ireland’s Pot Still Whiskey Historian - Part 1 show art Fionnán O’Connor - Ireland’s Pot Still Whiskey Historian - Part 1

Irish Whiskey: Stories and Sips

Before the available choices of single post still whiskey stretched beyond two - Green Spot and Redbreast 12, one man had fallen in love with both the spirit and its history. Today, Fionnán O’Connor, my guest on the podcast, is recognized as one of the foremost experts on the history of single pot still whiskey.

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Jarlath Watson: Blending Echlinville's Innovation with Belfast's Whiskey Traditions show art Jarlath Watson: Blending Echlinville's Innovation with Belfast's Whiskey Traditions

Irish Whiskey: Stories and Sips

In this episode of Stories & Sips I spent a very enjoyable afternoon chatting with Jarlath Watson, global brand ambassador and part of the founding team of the extraordinary Echlinville distillery. We sipped on some Dunville's Irish whiskey and I learned more about the history of this storied brand and Echlinville’s impressive approach to growing, malting and distilling.

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James Doherty: A Return to Donegal Distilling show art James Doherty: A Return to Donegal Distilling

Irish Whiskey: Stories and Sips

It’s been 175 years since legal distilling has happened in Ireland’s North Western-most county of Donegal. That changed with the establishment of Sliabh Liag Distillers - founded by husband and wife team James and Moira Doherty who uprooted their family from Hong Kong to pursue a passion.

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Kieran Folliard: 2 Gingers, Many Irish Pubs & No All-Ireland Football Medals show art Kieran Folliard: 2 Gingers, Many Irish Pubs & No All-Ireland Football Medals

Irish Whiskey: Stories and Sips

He built an Irish pub group, he became the world’s biggest seller of Jameson, he launched his own Irish whiskey, he sold the pubs, he sold the whiskey and he’s still not done.

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In November 2019 I stood in the lobby of the Aloft Hotel in the Liberties area of Dublin city. For the first time in more than 70 years the roofs and buildings of four operating Irish whiskey distilleries could be seen - Pearse Lyons Distillery, Teeling Distillery, Roe & Co and the focus of this week’s podcast, the Dublin Liberties Distillery. 
 
In fact as I marveled at the return of distilling to Ireland’s capital, right on cue, a truck full of barley arrived, ready for Master Distiller Darryl McNally to turn it into single malt irish whiskey and I watched as its contents were magically emptied from the truck straight in through the wall of the Dublin Liberties Distillery. 
 
Darryl has spent his whole working life in Irish whiskey and the Dublin Liberties Distillery is his chance to put his very own stamp on whiskey that he’s been keen to make for years. In this episode of stories and sips, I have the pleasure of chatting with a master of his craft and a mentor to many up and coming young distillers. 
 
I was not going to let a chance to chat with a Master Distiller of Darryl’s calibre go to waste and made sure to dive deep into such topics as:
 
- What Darryl believes makes for a good Master Distiller
- What he considered when building his whiskey portfolio at Dublin Liberties Distillery
- What it takes to build a distillery from the ground up
- What a career at Ireland’s oldest distillery, Bushmills, taught him about single malt and running a distillery
- What the DNA of his own whiskey is.