J.J. Cory Irish Whiskey Coming To America

Founded in 2015 by Louise McGuane and billed as “Ireland’s first modern whiskey Bonder,” Chapel Gate Irish Whiskey is taking their J.J. Cory brand to the U.S.A.. J.J. Corry, ‘The Gael’ is made with 5% 26 year old single malt, 27.5% 11 year old single malt, 27.5% 15 year old single malt and the remaining 40% is 7 year old single grain whiskey. The whiskey is bottled at 46% ABV and is non-chill filtered with no artificial color added.The first batch to come across the Atlantic will be 7,500 bottles with a retail price of $75.

Irish Whiskey Bonding is the practice of sourcing whiskey from third party distilleries, maturing it onsite until it is ready and then finishing or blending to put their own stamp on it. Some enthusiasts will recognize this approach to independent bottling from the story of Mitchell & Son of Dublin developing Green and Yellow Spot, but even in that case haven’t aged the whiskey themselves since the early 1970s.

Bonding was a once common way of producing whiskey in Ireland and bonders were often publicans and grocers in local towns creating whiskey for their local clientele. The practice died out in the early 20th Century when the Irish Whiskey Industry collapsed. Instead of selling to Bonders, the few remaining distilleries in Ireland then chose to control their route to market and cut off supply to the Bonders. Many of the sourced brands that popped up in the late 20th Century were not, strictly speaking, made by Bonders since the whiskey was bought full matured and not held and aged by the end-bottler.

“Bonding Irish Whiskey was a lost art and business model which we have brought back to life,” said Louise McGuane. “We are the first whiskey Bonder with in Ireland in 50 years and are proud to have brought this way of making Irish Whiskey back. Our first release, The Gael, has been greeted with great acclaim winning a Gold Medal in the Irish Whiskey Awards along with a medal in the World Whisky Awards.”

As the company waits for their own Irish Whiskey casks to come of age on the McGuane Family farm, they have sourced mature Irish Whiskey from existing stocks in Ireland. With these casks, we have created a series of unique and complex blends to build a future house style and flavor profile. J.J. Corry, ‘The Gael’ is a clearly definable Irish Whiskey with those fruit forward flavours that whiskey lovers look for in Irish Whiskey.

“Our farm has its own coastal micro-climate,” said McGuane. “We rack our casks in the traditional style and our purpose built Rackhouse has a clay floor for optimum humidity conditions. We are meticulous about the quality of new make spirit we buy and I personally source all of our casks. We have excellent quality spirit going into Grade A casks and those casks are maturing in a unique microclimate on the Wild Atlantic Way. We feel it is important to be 100% transparent about what we are doing. J.J. Corry, ‘The Gael’ is the beginning for us, a tribute to what has gone before us and a taste of what is to come.”