Echlinville Distillery releases Irish whiskey casks

New Irish distillery Echlinville is offering consumers the chance to purchase a bespoke cask of Irish whiskey, allowing them to choose the cask size, wood type, whiskey style, cask strength and even malted:unmalted barley rations.

Echlinville Distillery is releasing a number of casks of Irish whiskey as part of its Patron’s Promise programme

The distillery, a family-owned business with its own maltings located on a 100-acre site in County Down, received its license to distil whisky in May 2013, and expects its own whiskey to come of age in 2016.

In the meantime, the distillery is creating 144 casks – named The Patron’s Promise – in three sizes: 200-litre, 120-litre and 60-litre, for consumers seeking to become the first to own liquid from the new distillery.

Shane Braniff, Echlinville Distillery managing director, said: “Interest in Irish whiskey has been growing dramatically, particularly in the US over the past five years.

“We’ve had a large number of approaches from people interested in being among the first to own and enjoy our range of new Irish whiskey and so we`ve decided to make a small number of casks available to satisfy this interest.”

Purchasers can choose from a malt or single pot still whiskey, size of cask, wood type, cask strength of the spirit and even what ratio of malted barley to unmalted barley to use.

“I believe we are the first people from the industry to offer this very special service,” Braniff added.

Braniff is currently marketing the distillery’s Dunville Irish Whiskey in Europe and the US, using a consignment of liquid from another unnamed distillery that is finished and blended at Echlinville.

The distillery has plans to install two additional stills later this year, as well as open a visitors’ centre in 2015.