History made as Meath's Boann distills first whiskey in Drogheda in 160 years

An award-winning distillery has revived whiskey distilling in an Irish town for the first time in 160 years.

Boann Distillery celebrated the Winter Solstice last night (Dec 21) by unveiling its first Irish Single Pot Still Whiskey at its base just outside Drogheda, Co Meath.

On the same date three years ago, it filled nine, specially hand-selected casks with whiskey spirit from its inaugural distillation.

In 2019, the single pot still distillate was filled into different wine and spirit casks, including: NEOC (New Era of Oak Cask), PX, Armagnac, Sauternes, Moscatel, Chardonnay, Bordeaux, Rum and Marsala, and matured in the solitude of the distillery.

The first bottles of 'Solstice', matured on site, came from a Pedro Ximenez hogshead 250ltr cask.

The bottle design is a celebration of darkness into light, inspired by the Winter Solstice and the passing of time.

The body of the bottle design represents the copper pot still and the sun with structural symmetry of sunrays and the reflection of the moon above.

The three staves design, wax sealed to the wooden cork of the bottle, refers to the three years of maturation and is also a reference to the wooden staves of the casks in which the Single Pot Still Whiskey matures.

A select group of whiskey enthusiasts became the first to taste the newly-matured spirit at last night’s celebration in the distillery, run by the Kilmessan-based Cooney family.

There were once 18 distilleries in Drogheda, with the last silencing its stills in the late 1850s.

“It has always been our family dream to lead a renaissance of Irish whiskey and to craft and distil our own,” said Pat Cooney, Boann founder and entrepreneur.

“That revival has begun and Irish whiskey is now quickly becoming the fastest growing spirit in the world.

“In late 2019, the first spirit flowed from the Boann Distillery copper pot stills, the first to flow in Drogheda in over 160 years.

“Our state-of-the-art distillery, with its three custom handmade copper pot stills and our access to the best casks to mature our spirit, ensures that we produce unique whiskeys of great character and provenance with a real sense of place.

“Every bottle will tell a story – the story of our land, our people and our family. This celebratory bottling is a tribute to the people who made the creation possible.”

For further details about Boann Distillery and ‘The Whistler’ range of Irish Whiskey, visit: www.boanndistillery.ie.