WHISKEY was given the royal treatment this week as a cargo of three giant pots neatly arrived in the Royal Oak to a tumultuous reception.
Walsh Whiskey Distillery at Royal Oak, Carlow took a big step closer to being commissioned this January with their arrival which, in total, amounted to 30 tonnes of copper and steel whiskey distilling equipment.
Thankfully, the precious cargo never came close to being ‘on the rocks’ as it made its first and last-ever journey − all of 1,046kms (650 miles) by road and sea from the north-west of Scotland.
Excitement in Royal Oak as copper whiskey stills arrive
The crown jewels in the shipment are the three giant copper pot stills and column stills, which will be the prime engines in the distillation of up to eight million bottles of premium craft Irish whiskey at Walsh Whiskey each year.
There to greet the convoy as it arrived at the 18th century estate were founders of Walsh Whiskey Bernard and Rosemary Walsh, their family, company employees and the community of Royal Oak, who have been very supportive of the €25 million project since it was announced in 2013.
The whiskey distillery is the first to be developed in Carlow and the south-east in 100 and 200 years respectively.
Weighing between four and five tonnes each and measuring up to 6.5 metres in height, the capacity of the largest of the pot stills is 15,000 litres. Water and barley, whiskey’s main ingredients, will be in plentiful supply from the surrounding barley-growing farms and the Barrow Valley Aquifer, a massive natural underground reservoir containing 200 million cubic metres of water.
The distillery will produce Walsh Whiskey’s critically acclaimed, award-winning brands The Irishman and Writers Tears. Walshes will be unique as the only distillery in Ireland to produce all three types of Irish whiskey in one still house, namely – pot, malt and grain.
