Cork Whiskey Fest: Meet the makers and discover the best whiskey bars in Ireland

The third annual Cork Whiskey Fest runs until March 23, taking over bars and venues around MacCurtain St in the city. This year has seen significant expansion of the festival and the founders, Laurie and Sonya O’Dwyer, have over 20 whiskey-themed events planned, with the highlight being the Brand Expo & Socials at The Metropole Hotel. It will allow visitors to taste their way through 50 whiskey distilleries and brands including representation from Japan, Kentucky, and Scotland.

Besides several masterclasses and whiskey tastings (including ultra rare whiskies), there are cocktail events and tours of Midleton Distillery. The fact that such a large whiskey event is happening in Cork over three days would have been unimaginable even 10 years ago. Ireland now has hundreds of different whiskeys to taste, from almost every county in Ireland and even a couple of off-shore islands.

So who is going to drink all this whiskey, you may wonder. It seems the answer is much of the rest of the world. Ireland exports 90% of what it produces and is found in 113 countries, with €15.5m cases sold, with the value of exports exceeding €1bn in 2024. Jameson is driving the market and represents around 70% of Irish whiskey sales. It is a top three selling whiskey brand and in the top 10 of spirits brands. This deep penetration into global markets has led to a significant uptick in interest in the rest of what we produce.

“Jameson opened the door, it created the Irish whiskey category and this allows people to look beyond it to everything from Powers Rye to Redbreast Pot Still to Knappogue Castle Single Malt,” says Carol Quinn, Midleton’s head of archives.

So what makes Irish whiskey different and how did we get here?

For the answer we can look to the English. Unlicensed distilling was banned in Ireland in 1661, which led to commercial licensed production and lots of illegal poitín stills. The details are scant although we know there were 1228 legal distilleries in Ireland in 1779 and hundreds more illegal ones. This figure dropped due to tightening of the excise laws and, according to Carol Quinn, it was only after 1780 that the modern whiskey industry in Ireland was born.

In 1785 a malted barley tax was introduced to Ireland, which taxed the raw ingredients as well as the finished product. The Irish solution was to use a mix of malted and unmalted barley to make whiskey, and thus we have the Single Pot Still style which is unique to Ireland (Redbreast, for example).

The late 19th century was the golden period for Irish whiskey when it was considered the gold standard in whiskey production. Sadly just 50 years later it was on its knees, damaged by events such as prohibition and two world wars and outsold by cheaper Scotch blends. In 1966, the remaining distilleries merged to create Irish Distillers with two distilling sites, Midleton and Bushmills. That was it for two decades until Cooley opened in 1987, reviving old brand names such as Tyrconnell and Kilbeggan. Next came West Cork Distillers, who began production in 2008, Dingle in 2012, and more every year afterwards.

In 2025 everyone I speak to for this story is optimistic. However, there have been setbacks. Waterford Distillery being sent into receivership by their bank in November 2024 was a huge shock. It isn’t dead yet however; rumour has it that there are several investors hoping to acquire it, including its founder Mark Reynier. Waterford was truly innovative (perhaps too innovative) creating single farm ‘terroir’ releases and the world’s first biodynamic whiskey.

This is not the only shock Irish whiskey will face. Tastes change, Trump may bring in tariffs — anything can happen. Already this year one of our best boutique distilleries was forced to seek additional funding through the Revenue’s SCARP scheme for small businesses.

But back to the positives.

Sally-Anne Cooney of Boann Distillery in Louth is providing one of the Cork Whiskey Fest’s exclusive bottlings, a single cask pot still whiskey aged in a rare egg-shaped, 100-year-old Palo Cortado Sherry cask laid down in 2019. Boann recently won Distiller of the Year at the Icons of Whiskey Ireland Awards and will go on to the World Whiskey Awards finals in London.

“We are in 70 markets now, thanks in part to the fact our Merry’s Irish Cream has been selling well for over 25 years,” she says. “We have also had some exciting results from a project we did with whiskey writer Fionnán O’Connor reviving old mash bills from the 1820s to 1955 as part of his PhD. Some of these contain high rye, oats, and wheat content and we are hoping a change in the PGI definition will allow us to release some of these as single pot still rather than just as Irish whiskey,” she says.

The other exclusive Whiskey Fest release will be 150 bottles of a 10-year-old single malt in a maritime bottle from West Cork Distillers, who now employ 310 people. The distillery was founded in 2003 and they laid down their first barrel in 2008.

“There was a lot of scepticism at the start as we had no money, no investment, no experience or even marketing — it was madness, but thankfully we didn’t know at the time,” says John O’Connell, founder of West Cork Distillers (along with Ger McCarthy and Denis McCarthy). 

They started with two converted schnapps distillers in a shed in Union Hall but now operate from a 12.5-acre site in Skibbereen. These days, West Cork Distillers export to around 70 countries and have a wealth of whiskey stocks to draw from and are currently the largest Irish-owned distillery in the country.

“Waterford Distillery’s difficulties did create anxiety, both genuine and false anxiety (which is still anxiety after all),” says O’Connell. “The worldwide Scotch market is saturated, however there is room for Irish whiskey to expand in markets like Africa, South America, and India. Sales of Irish whiskey to India increased 107% last year.”

Not too far from Skibbereen, Clonakilty Whiskey was opened in 2019 by Michael Scully. “It’s a competitive market alright but the category keeps growing; just last week we were approached by an importer in New Zealand and before that South Korea,” says Scully.

“The market is looking for difference and the oily complexity of our single pot still style is just that,” says Scully.

Clonakilty Distillery uses Irish barley of course but much of it is grown by Scully himself: “So it’s malted barley from my farm going into my bottles,” he says. Scully has also been growing heritage Goldthorpe barley, which gives a distinctive flavour to Irish whiskey (as I discovered in the Waterford Goldthorpe release a few years ago).

Irish whiskey is an all-island product, of course, and several Northern Ireland distilleries will be at the fest, including Killowen, Titanic, Copeland, Dunvilles, Portmagee, and, of course, Bushmills.

Bushmills master blender Alex Thomas is also fully optimistic about the future: “We more than doubled capacity in recent years, going from 5m to 11m litres per year,” she says. The premiumisation of Irish whiskey over the last decade is also something she believes will benefit Bushmills given their huge stocks of whiskey. “We are leaning right into this and recently launched a 46-year-old Secrets of the River Bush and our 26-year-old Crystal Malt will appear next month.”

The other long-established whiskey in Ireland is of course Midleton which was opened by the Murphy family in 1825 and modernised by Irish Distillers in 1975. “It’s incredible to think we are making whiskey in the same place for 200 years — very few other industries can claim this,” says head of archives, Carol Quinn. “We have unique access to 200 years of mash bills (recipes) to provide inspiration and stimulus, not to repeat old editions but to help us stay true to the DNA of the brand.”

Midleton is part of a number of events at the Cork Whiskey Fest, including the Cork Festival Bus trip to Midleton plus an event hosted by Barrett Stapleton, head distiller at Midleton’s Micro Distillery showing off some recent innovations under the Method and Madness range, which pairs a master distiller with an apprentice distiller (the former providing method and the latter providing a bit of madness).

This being the 200th anniversary of Midleton, master distiller Kevin O’Gorman (and master blender Dave McCabe) have lots to release. “We have special Midleton Very Rare releases coming up, not least the ultimate expression in the Silent Distillery Collection,” says O’Gorman.

“There is a sense of sadness this year as the Silent Distillery collection will come to a close as we release the final drops distilled in the iconic Old Midleton Distillery which was silenced in 1975,” he says. In terms of challenges O’Gorman believes the creativity of his team will see them through.

A final word to Laurie O’Dwyer, co-founder of the Cork Whiskey Fest. “The doom and gloom regarding whiskey in some quarters is unwarranted. There will always be peaks and troughs. Bottle sales are a little down at the moment but cask and wholesale figures are up.”

The whiskey bug is easily caught, he assures me, and cites himself as an example. “Just back from a tough stint in the Lebanon in 2018 and placed in charge of the bar in the officers’ mess in Collins Barracks led me to where I am today. My whole life outlook changed thanks to involvement with the whiskey community and there are plenty more to convert.”

For more of this positivity, check out O’Dwyer’s podcast Whiskey Chats, now on its 177th episode.

• See corkwhiskeyfest.com

Eight great whiskey bars in Ireland

Whiskey is a social drink, it is all well and good contemplatively sipping a fine pot still whiskey in a darkened room, but you know it will taste better in good company in a dedicated bar.

Shelbourne Bar, MacCurtain St, Cork

The Shelbourne is a main sponsor of Cork Whiskey Fest, and its official ‘social hub’. Opened in 1895, it boasts 540 whiskies.

The Welcome Inn, Parnell Place, Cork

Opened in 1845 with 100 whiskies on offer with knowledgeable staff.

The Duke of York, Commercial Court, Belfast

One of the largest selections of Irish whiskey and one of the best shops.

Dick Macs, Dingle

Probably the most famous pub in Dingle with its own brewery and house whiskies plus an extensive
collection of brands.

Celtic Whiskey Bar & Larder, Killarney

From the same folk as the Celtic Whiskey Shop in Dublin this might have the largest collection of whiskies in Ireland.

The Palace Bar, Fleet St, Dublin

One of Dublin’s best bars serving their own porter and with a brilliant collection of whiskies.

Bar 1661, Green St, Dublin

Strictly speaking, a poitín bar but whiskey is also a focus including an impressive selection of cask strength Scotch.

The Dylan Whiskey Bar Kilkenny

Part of the Kilkenny Whiskey Guild is a collective of 10 great whiskey bars, The Dylan has the largest collection.