Poitín makers Micil distil first Galway whiskey in over 100 years
Print15 March 2021
To celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day, Micil Distillery will be distilling and laying down Galway’s first Irish whiskey in over a century.
Sixth generation Connemara distillers Pádraic and Jimín Ó Griallais will following a family tradition going back over 170 years, when their great-great-great grandfather, Micil Mac Chearra, began distilling on a hillside in South Connemara.
Already renowned for its poitín and gin, Micil is now adding whiskey to its repertoire. While its own whiskey matures, it will release two initial independently bottled Irish whiskeys in the summer of 2021. Micil Irish Whiskey will be shaped by applying its illicit distilling heritage and experience to explore the boundaries of Irish Whiskey making.
Rebirth of Galway whiskey at Micil
Celebrating the rebirth of whiskey distilling in Galway, Pádraic Ó Griallais said: ‘‘I founded Micil Distillery in 2016 in honour of my great, great, great grandfather Micil, with the dream of being the first in my family to distil legally. The success of Micil Irish Poitín, Micil Heritage Peated Poitín, and the multi-award-winning Micil Irish Gin has enabled us to move into the next phase of our growth plan and begin laying down Irish whiskey. In January 2021 we filled our first casks with the new make spirit which will be Galway’s first Irish whiskey in over a century. Our family has over 170 years of craft distillation knowhow, the longest continuous family distillation heritage in Ireland, and it brings us tremendous pride to be building on this legacy by bringing Irish whiskey back to Galway.
“Our production capacity is perhaps the smallest of any whiskey distillery in Ireland. With our small single copper pot still, we can only produce a maximum of one standard 200 litre cask per week, compared with the approximately 30 casks per week produced by some of the better known ‘small’ Irish distilleries and the thousands of casks a week produced by the likes of Jameson and Bushmills. Our production methods are painstakingly slow, and we do everything by hand with no automation. Our focus is purely on distilling spirits of exceptional flavour and quality, not on yields or profit margins.
“Our first runs have been peated single malts, using 100% Irish barley, malted using Connemara turf from our family farm in Inverin. But as we ramp up production we plan to continue to innovate, bringing the creativity and resourcefulness of the Connemara poitín distiller to the whiskey category. Our whiskeys will draw heavily on our 170 years of distilling knowledge, our historic mash bills (recipes), and our Connemara terroir & provenance.”
While its own Galway whiskey matures for the legal minimum of three years, Micil plan to release two independently bottled Irish whiskeys in the summer of 2021 to give consumers an immediate opportunity to connect with whiskeys influenced by them.
Head distiller Jimín points out that: “In an industry with its fair share of smoke and mirrors, it was imperative to us that we were distilling our own Irish whiskey here in Galway before releasing a product that we haven’t distilled ourselves, though we’re obviously finishing it in our own casks. Three years is a long wait, and in the meantime we wanted to give people a small taste of what’s to come. The important thing is to be transparent about things like this, and that’s where we’ve seen other spirits companies fall short. It means a lot to us, we’re first and foremost distillers after all. It’s in our DNA.”
Creating new jobs in Galway
As its portfolio grows so too does the business, and Micil is delighted to be creating new employment opportunities in a part of the country that can sometimes get overlooked.
“We’re delighted to be at a stage where we can expand our team and create new jobs, especially when there’s been so much bad news for people over the last year or so,” said Pádraic. “To date it’s been a core of just myself, my brother Jimín and my co-founder Ross, and it’s been hard going for us at times with lots of long days and sleepless nights, in an industry dominated by huge multinationals with limitless funds. But we recently hired Mark McLaughlin, one of Irish whiskey’s leading brand specialists, and are currently in the process of recruiting a global sales manager for the business as well. These new additions to our team will provide valuable skills & experience as we grow, and further our ability to achieve our goals.”
2021 will be Micil Distillery’s busiest year to date as it takes its first (legal) steps into the Irish whiskey category and begin to export to international markets. Along with expanding its team and building its portfolio, it is working hard behind the scenes, developing new platforms for consumers to join its journey and seeking out investment to solidify its growth plans.
“This will not be the only good news from Micil in the coming months,” adds Pádraic. “We’re working on lots of exciting projects and are looking forward to very soon welcoming members of the public to come on board and join us as part of ‘Pobal Mhicil’, the Micil Community.”
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