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Sliabh Liag
Distillers lay down the first legally
produced single malt whiskey in Donegal
since 1841, and it will be one for
peated whiskey fans to look out for when
it comes of age.
Sliabh
Liag Distillers has announced that they
have filled to cask the first Irish
single malt produced legally in Irelands
remotest county, County Donegal, since
1841. In the shadow of the imposing
mountain of Sliabh Liag, a double
distilled smoky spirit made from Irish
peated malt has been filled into a first
fill bourbon oak cask by Sliabh Liag
Distillers. It is the first time since
the closure of Burt Distillery in 1841
that legal whiskey distillation has
taken place in Donegal.
The small-batch production at its Sliabh
Liag Distillers Carrick facility will
help the company’s founders and
distillers, James and Moira Doherty,
undertake valuable research and
development while the business’s new
whiskey distillery at Ardara is under
construction. The timing also marks an
important period in Sliabh Liag
Distillery’s history as it prepares for
a crowd-funding launch on Wednesday 26th
August to help raise €1.5m of capital
for the new distillery.
Commenting on the landmark occasion,
James Doherty, SLD Founder, said: "We’ve
done it! It’s only now that the first
cask is filled, ready to mature into a
smoky single malt Irish whiskey that we
feel we have really returned to Donegal.
When Moira and I moved back here in
2014, it was with the dream of
reigniting the county’s distilling
heritage, and with the Crolly and
Baoilleach distilleries, the county is
getting there. Our new spirit smells
lovely and drinks even better; it is
soft and smoky sweet with a fresh pear
note and a hint of treacle.
"While the success of our An Dúlamán gin
and Silkie and Dark Silkie blended Irish
whiskeys has been rewarding, the
distilling genes in me knew this
scatterling’s return wouldn’t be
complete without an Irish malt flowing
from the stills. While Burt Distillery
ceased production in 1841, we know
illegal distilling continued during the
intermittent years, not least by my
grandfather who was creating a smoky,
double distilled spirit under the
authorities’ radar on the hills ‘up the
glen’ in Kilcar. I think my grandfather
would approve that we are now distilling
the first legal whiskey in Donegal for
nearly 200 years, and there’s a lovely
sense of coming full circle.
"There has been a fair amount of blood,
sweat and tears to get to this point -
especially last week in hand-mashing
500L of wort for brewing – but it’s
given us a huge lift as we embark on the
next stage in both our and Donegal’s
history. Turf has been turned at the
site of the Ardara Distillery and we
launch our fundraising exercise on
Crowdcube in a few weeks’ time. Once we
are up and running there, the future of
Donegal Irish Whiskey will be even
brighter.”
James describes the new make spirit as
exceptionally soft and is fresh, citrusy
and with rich chocolate notes to
complement the pronounced smoke. It has
been made from Irish Craft Malts barley
grown in Meath and some malted over peat
from Mín na bhFachraín. The smoky
profile of the spirit is true to what
was being distilled in Ulster 200 years
ago, and like the county itself, a
contrast to the rest of Ireland in
character.
It was distilled twice in SLD’s copper
pot still, known as Méabh. This first
run of spirit has been filled into a
first fill bourbon oak cask. The
creation of the spirit was delayed from
earlier this year when Sliabh Liag
Distillers turned its focus to creating
hand sanitizer for the local community
during the early stages of the pandemic
While you are waiting for the first
legally produced Donegal peated single
malt since 1841 to come of age you will
find an extensive range of Irish whiskey available from specialist online whisky
retailers such as
The Whisky Exchange,
The Whisky Shop and
Master of Malt
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