Slane Distillery set to be top tourist brand
IN terms of whiskey, the Slane brand is relatively new, but when it comes to tourism, it’s like a veteran already.
The opening of Slane Distillery has provided the local community with an extraordinary outlet and one that is set to grow and grow in the years to come.
Last week, Boyne Valley Tourism invited journalists from Ireland, the UK and Holland to have a look around the place and they left impressed - and that wasn’t just by the free sample at the end of the tour!
Owned by American firm Brown Forman, Slane Distillery has seen a $45m investment and you can see see every penny.
The place is a class act and the experience a truly memorable one.
On this occasion, local man Cathal Mongey was the tour guide and what a professional.
A singer with up and coming band ‘Just Like Us’ (available for any Fleadh gigs going by the way), Cathal is a natural when it comes to impressing visitors and his performance was faultless.
The tour brings you on a journey, from the history of Slane Castle itself, to the era of Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown and his one and only Irish design, to the arrival of the whiskey dream and of course, the odd mention of Bono, Springsteen and Bowie. You can even keep your eyes peeled for Noel Gallagher’s guitar!
The tour is only one aspect of the Slane Distllery. They have a bar - just walk in and enjoy the surrounds - it’s set in the old stable and also a shop, selling everything Slane.
The courtyard is magnificent and across the way, there’s the castle itself, with a coffee shop attached.
It is hard to believe that just five years ago, the stable block was a ruin and today, it houses one of the best interactive tours you’ll see in the country.
In the future, the plan is to make the estate self sufficient. They have 1,600 acres and will be able to boast of a ‘grain to glass’ facility.
They hope to produce one million bottles of whiskey a year in the decades ahead, making the brand a truly international one.
Alex Mountcharles deserves great credit for his dedication to this cause - one he’s been lauding for years - and surely an award or two is just around the corner.
For locals, for visitors, Slane Distllery is well worth a trip.
It’s a true gem resting in the warm heart of the Boyne Valley.