Whiskey Chats

Join me for My 2nd Walking Chat with Michael Carr. Michael and I dida podcast a while back, strolling through the historic Liberties area of Dublin city, taking in all the lost whiske heritage of the area. I enjoyed it so much, I asked him to go again, in a different part of Dublin city.  And wow, what an enjoyable education he gave me on the subtle links to our whiskey history all around the stre...

Join me for My Distillery Chat with Brian Mongan from Great Northern Distillery. I visited with Brian in Great Northern Distillery in Dundalk and I must have seen every dept in the place with him, on our stroll around. What a magnificent place John Teeling has built, such great people and whiskey. We finished up in the blending lab, where I bumped into GND's newest apprentice blender, Jade Sheehy....

Join me for My Chat with Jarrod Cuffe from Off The Cuffe Bitters. I visited with Jarrod in The Chocolate Factory in Dublin a few weeks ago, to learn more about Off The Cuffe Bitters and Zeit Cocktails, that he has successfully released in the RTD (Ready To Drink) market. This episode of the podcast is sponsored by: Irish Whiskey Auctions  www.boanndistillery.ie Don't forget to sign up to my Patreo...

Join me for this Bonus Episode - My Live Online Tasting pt 2 This episode of the podcast is sponsored by: Irish Whiskey Auctions  www.boanndistillery.ie Don't forget to sign up to my Patreon channel for 96hr early access episodes and more, for a few euros a month and help me deliver the best podcasts to you. https://www.patreon.com/whiskeychatspodcast I hope you enjoy our chat, Laurie

Join me for this Bonus Episode - My Live Online Tasting pt1 This episode of the podcast is sponsored by: Irish Whiskey Auctions  www.boanndistillery.ie Don't forget to sign up to my Patreon channel for 96hr early access episodes and more, for a few euros a month and help me deliver the best podcasts to you. https://www.patreon.com/whiskeychatspodcast I hope you enjoy our chat, Laurie

Join me for My Walking Chat with Gareth Downey from Dublin Whiskey Experiences. I met up with Gareth in The Liberties area of Dublin city and we walked and talked our way around a number of historic whiskey sites including a distillery and 2 iconic bars - The Stag's Head and The Palace Bar, where publican Willie Ahern looked after us as usual. This episode of the podcast is sponsored by: Irish Whi...

Join me for My Chat with Lauren McMullan, the new manager of Irish Whiskey Experiences. Lauren was the face of Bushmills Distillery for the past 5 years, having worked there 10 years, first as a tour guide and has spent the past 5 years as Brand Embassador for the island of Ireland.  She has moved to a new role as manger with irishwhiskeyexperiences.com , where she aims to brings her wealth of exp...

Join me for My Chat with John Teeling. I met John on the roof balcony of Teeling distillery, in the heart of The Liberties, with all the hustle and bustle of inner city Dublin life all around us. John Teeling is a legend in the world of Irish Whiskey. He founded Cooley Distillery in the heart of late 1980's Ireland recession, where John Teeling's 2 sons Jack & Steven, both worked with him in the 9...

Join me for My Chat with Alex Chasko, Head Distiller with Teeling Distillery. I met Alex on the roof balcony of Teeling distillery, in the heart of The Liberties area of Dublin City centre. He has been with the Teeling family through to the sale of Cooley Distillery days, to when John Teeling's sons, Jack & Steven founded Teeling Distillery. This episode of the podcast is brought to you by Irish W...

Join me for My Distillery Chat with John Wilcox in Blackwater Distillery, on the Cork / Waterford border. What an interesting lad he is..... Head Distiller John, is American by birth, but I think he has become an honorary Irishman. His love and passion for the historic legacy of Irish Pot Still whiskey is large as Blackwater Distillery's founder, Peter Mulryan. I really enjoyed my visit to Blackwa...

Join me for My Walking Tour Chat with Chris Hennessy, as I explored Kilkenny city's rich alcohol history. Chris guided me through the streets of Kilkenny, dropping his usual knowledge bombs as we went. Fantastic. This episode of the podcast is brought to you by Irish Whiskey Auctions Don't forget to sign up to my Patreon for 96hr early access episodes and more, for a few euros a month and help me...

Join me for My Tasting Chat with Barry Chandler in the iconic Hi-B Bar in the heart of Cork City centre, across from the GPO, above a pharmacy. I asked Barry to do a tasting for the Cork Whiskey Society in April 2023 and got permission to record it. Barry has been releasing private bottlings through his Stories & Sips Whiskey Club and Cork Whiskey Society were lucky enough to taste all 6 releases...

I spent a couple of days last February 2023, in bitter freezing conditions, above in Killowen Distillery on work experience. Brendan Carty and his distiller Hugh allowed me to get stuck into every aspect of production that week. But on the last day, as we were falling upwards towards the distillery along the frozen mountain lane entrance, Brendan asked if I'd like to run his new micro 100ltr Colum...

Join me for My Unicorn Whiskey Garden Chat with Dan Pennington, Paul Costello and Conor Ryan from Pearse Lyons Distillery & Cork Whiskey Society. I was lucky enough to be gifted a few samples and I saved them up to share with the lads in my back garden. They ranged from brand new whiskeys to a couple of decades old. That's what whiskey is all about, having a bit of craic and always learning from e...

Join me for My Blind Tasting Garden Chat with Dan Pennington, Paul Costello and Conor Ryan from Pearse Lyons Distillery & Cork Whiskey Society. Chris Hennessy, all round whiskey and cocktail guru, gifted me a bag when i was up in Kilkenny with him in Jan 2023. In it, he had put together a blind tasting of spirits for my next Garden Chat. So myself and the 3 lads duly tucked into the samples Chris...

Join me for My Street Chat with Master Distiller Brian Nation from O'Shaughnessy Distillery in Minnesota. Brian has recently moved to the US with his family, after a long and distinguished career with Midleton Distillery. Their new brand, Keepers Heart Irish + American whiskey, has just been released in Ireland and Brian joined me outside The Shelbourne Bar for a Street Chat on MacCurtain St in Co...

Join me for My Chat with David Boyd-Armstrong from Shortcross Distillery above in Rademon Estate, Co. Down. I visited David and his wife Fiona with about 3 inches of snow underfoot. The warm welcome made up for the cold weather. What a distilley they've got going. Their Rye and Malt Single Malt release at cask strength turned my eye last year. David, who is also the head distiller, has a fantastic...

Join me for My Distillery Chat with Peter Cooney in Boann Distillery in Meath. Nestled in an celtic tiger era car sales showroom, off the M1 motorway from Dublin to Belfast is a rather special distillery doing rather special things. The Cooney family's Boann Distillery has come to prominance of late with their vintage mashbill programme, as part of Fionnán O'Connor's Doctoral thesis on historic ma...

Join me for My Bond Chat in 2 Stacks with Shane McCarthy & Liam Brogan. I visited the lads in their bonded warehouse HQ on the outskirts of Newry City in Co. Down.  They have an impressive amount of casks and IBC's of whiskey maturing in the bond. The lads have developed a huge following both domestically and in foreign markets and have their finger on the pulse internationally on the Irish whiske...

Join me for the Launch of Powers Irish Rye Whiskey with Head Powers Distiller, Eric Ryan. What a chat! (Totally chuffed to be asked to do this Irish launch) Irish Distillers - Pernod Ricard started a program of Rye cultivation in Wexford back in 2016. Today, Monday 20th February 2023, sees the fruition of this project. Welcome, Powers Irish Rye Whiskey to the Powers family. Drops of the night: Pow...

Join me for My Chat with Stephen Murphy from Old Carrick Mill Distillery in Co. Monaghan. Stephen has undertaken to restore and convert an old woolen mill into a distillery, but is operating his self-designed stills from a warehouse a feet away, on the site. I had the opportunity to visit him and was hudely impressed with Stephen and the entire project. He is currently selling sourced whiskey unde...

Join me for My Chat in Fore Distillery with Oliver Guirke and his buddy Kevin. A boutique distillery, nestled away in the gorgeous hills of Westmeath, Fore Distillery is quietly distilling their own Poitíns and Rums. Through Oliver's experience distilling in the US, he has built a craft distillery operation with the best of equipment. No wonder he is producing the quality spirit that he is. I real...

Join me for My Chat with Drew Hannush from the Whiskey Lore podcast series. Drew has a real passion and knowledge of Irish whiskey and recently undertook a trip around the island of Ireland, visiting most of our whiskey distilleries. Off the back of this, he wrote a fantastic book - Whiskey Lore's Guide to Experiencing Irish Whiskey. Available now on Amazon - https://bit.ly/3CLw6J3 Drew also has t...

Join me for My 2nd Chat with Carol Quinn, Midleton Distillery's resident archivist.  Carol is the person that the IDL people come to, whenever they want to develop a new label or advertising campaign. She holds the keys to the extensive archives that have been passed down from all of the companys that now make up Irish Distillers  Powers, Jameson, Redbreast, Cork Distillers Company etc. Her depth...

Join me for My Live Chat at Poitín Now, which took place in Dublin on 20 Nov 2022. What a craic I had, speaking to everyone there: Michael O'Boyle from Baoilleach Distillery, Dave Mulligan from Bar 1661, Peter Mulryan from Blackwater Distillery, Brendan Carty From Killowen Distillery, Jarrod Cuffe from Off The Cuffe Bitters, Jennifer Nickerson from Tipperary Distillery, Shane McCarthy from Two Sta...