The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Distillery can’t keep up with demand for first Dingle Whiskey
THE first bottles of whiskey produced at Dingle Distillery have just been launched and already it is clear that the company won’t be able to keep up with demand.
With much of the first year’s production owned by the ‘founding fathers’ who invested in casks of whiskey that will continue to mature for at least another two years, the distillery is only able to release 4,000 bottles of three-year-old single malt whiskey to the market before Christmas, with another 4,000 bottles to follow in the new year. A very limited supply of just 500 bottles of ‘cask strength’ (60.7% vol.) is also being released. The whiskey, which will be available in selected bars and off-licences nationwide, retails at €65 for the standard bottle and €120 for cask strength.
In 2018 Dingle Whiskey will be launched in the USA where there is already huge interest in the product among drinks distributors, according to Distillery director Liam LaHart who was on a marketing visit to New York and Boston last week. However, the distillery has no option but to delay supplying the US market because it doesn’t yet have enough whiskey to meet the demand.
“Anybody who knows their whiskey is very excited about this. They know where it comes from and that it’s not just another one of the brands that are out there,” Liam told The Kerryman.
Meanwhile, the distillery’s Dingle Gin has already become firmly established as one of the best-selling Irish premium gins on the market. When the distillery was founded four years ago by Oliver Hughes, Liam LaHarte and Peter Mosely they decided, almost on a whim, to produce gin and vodka to provide some income during the three years it would take for their first batch of whiskey to mature. They set out to make the best gin they could, using local herbs including gorse, heather, fuschia, blackberries and elderflower that are supplied by Juli Malone from Burnham. To their surprise the gin quickly became a top seller in the more discerning corner of the market and now the 500 litres produced daily in the distillery isn’t enough to keep up with demand.
The distillery sells three times more gin than vodka but as Business Development Director Elliot Hughes (son of Oliver) explained, the vodka market in Ireland is swamped with cut price products and “we don’t want to get into cheap vodka”.
Management are considering introducing a second working shift next year to increase production and this could mean more jobs at the distillery which currently employs 10 full time staff.
On last Thursday evening Dingle publicans and invited guests got a taste of the first single malt Dingle Whiskey at a local launch held in the distillery’s Milltown base, where Elliot Hughes thanked the assembled gathering for their support and invited them to raise a glass in memory of his father, Oliver, who sadly passed away during the summer.
“The support we have received over the last four years and the last four months [since Oliver’s death] has been incredible. Everybody has bought into the way we do things; we aren’t treated like ‘the crowd who came down from Dublin’ and people have really accepted us,” said Elliot who has been coming on holiday to West Kerry since he was a toddler.
Offering some tasting notes on the new single malt, Distillery co-founder Peter Mosley pointed to the aroma of honey, almond and vanilla, and the sweet, clean flavour with hints of marzipan and oats. Whether or not the guests’ palattes picked up the hint of oats is a moot point but they were unanimous in judging it a whiskey of the highest quality. Irish Whiskey Society President Peter White confirmed the opinion, describing the whiskey as very smooth for its age, it has a ‘great nose’ and the packaging, which includes a Liam O’Neill painting on the back label, is pure class. His confidence in the distillery can be measured by the fact that he owns shares in three casks of whiskey that are maturing nicely in Milltown.