Ireland’s Slane Whiskey Distillery Is Now Operational

Slane Distillery celebrated a major milestone last week when it filled its first barrel. The inaugural cask contains new make malt whiskey using barley harvested on the Slane Castle Estate, filled into a Sherry hogshead.

“This is an important milestone for any new distillery, but one we are especially grateful for at Slane Distillery,” says Alan Buckley, Assistant Manager, Slane Distillery. “It’s rare that you get to build a distillery from the ground up, particularly one on grounds as historic as the Slane Castle Estate. That’s part of what makes this first barrel that much more special.”

The First Distillate from a Vibrant New Distillery
Brown-Forman, the venerable American whiskey company and maker of Jack Daniel’s and Old Forester, opened collaboration with the Conyngham family of Slane and began construction of Slane Distillery in late 2015. Brown-Forman then reintroduced Slane Irish Whiskey in mid-2017, the brand having been moribund since the acquisition of the Cooley Distillery by what was then Beam Global several years before had cut off Slane from its supply of sourced whiskey stock. The current Slane is a triple casked blend of Irish whiskey was sourced from other Irish distilleries, using virgin oak, seasoned whiskey and sherry casks.

Now in full production, Slane Distillery has the capacity to produce 600,000 cases, and is the first to be built by Brown-Forman outside of the United States. Brown-Forman invested $50 million in the distillery’s construction. Built on the grounds of the 250-year-old Gothic farm buildings of the castle, Slane Distillery showcases a revival of the historic architecture on the castle grounds. The distillery features timber washbacks, state-of-the-art column stills and hand-beaten copper pot stills and a small maturation warehouse.