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Slane Distillery in pictures

Ireland’s Slane Distillery is tantalisingly close to commencing production. As the site prepares to switch its still on for the first time, SB took a closer look behind the scenes.

Slane Distillery is set to begin distilling mid-March

It was 2013 when word first reached the drinks industry about plans to build a new €10 million distillery at Slane Castle in County Meath, Ireland.

The castle and its surrounding grounds are steeped in history and have belonged to the Conyngham family since 1703, when major general Henry Conyngham purchased the land where Slane Castle now sits.

But once co-founder Alex Conyngham received planning permission for the distillery, its development soon escalated, and in 2015 Jack Daniel’s owner Brown-Forman made its first move into the world’s fastest-growing spirits category with the acquisition of Slane Castle Irish Whiskey.

Marking the first time the drinks group has built a distillery outside of the US, Brown-Forman committed US$50m to the project and broke ground on building Slane Distillery in September 2015.

Less than two years later, Brown-Forman announced the global launch of Slane Irish Whiskey, a triple-cask expression created using virgin, seasoned and Sherry cask liquid from a third-party producer.

But the distillery is edging ever closer to completion. Last week, SB’s deputy editor Melita Kiely enjoyed a swift trip to Ireland for a first-hand look at the distillery and its visitor centre.

Click through to the following pages for a snapshot SB’s visit to Slane Distillery.

Slane Distillery is just a short 45-minute, scenic drive from the Irish capital of Dublin – and pulling up to Slane Castle was a site to behold. Passing over the threshold into the grand entrance hall of the 18th-century Slane Castle, it’s hard to comprehend that these walls were home to Alex Conyngham, co-founder and global brand ambassador of Slane Distillery, while he was growing up. “I remember running around and bouncing off these sofas,” he recalls, pointing to the furniture that adorns the room, while we guests stand mouths agape in its awe.

As our tour of the castle progresses, Conyngham fills our heads with history, of which the castle boasts plenty. But his tales are not only limited to the castle’s founding or the family’s aristocratic lineage. We step into a room, with huge glass windows and mirrors, deep red walls and an ornately carved ceiling. “It was in this room that U2 recorded In the Name of Love,” says Conyngham. How incredibly apt, considering it’s Valentine’s Day.

Slane Castle has had a long musical history, ever since Conyngham’s father, Lord Henry Mountcharles, launched Slane Concerts in 1981 – an entrepreneurial twist to ensure the family’s continued residence at Slane. Many of the world’s greatest musicians have graced the stage at Slane, including U2, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Bob Dylan, Eminem, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, David Bowie, Robbie Williams and Queen.

We headed to the bar where Will Lynch, Slane Irish Whiskey brand ambassador for Ireland and the UK, is waiting to serve Slane Irish Whiskey Coffees. A healthy measure of Slane whiskey is poured over a sugar cube, before freshly brewed coffee is added to the mix. Lynch then whips up the cream topping in a shaker and grates nutmeg to garnish on top – a welcome refreshment after the day’s early start.

After lunch in Browne’s Bar, decorated with musical memorabilia from the numerous concerts that have taken place there over decades, it was onto the distillery. Building has not been easy, as the site is “protected up to the hilt”, as Conyngham put it. We first pass through the Stalls bar – former 18th-century horse boxes that have been transformed into seating booths, with a bar at the end. The original features of the horse boxes have been retained, tying together the old and the new – something the distillery achieves exceptionally well throughout its structure.

The visitor centre at Slane Distillery has been open since September last year, and offers an insightful tour into the history of the castle and the distillery. Our visit commenced in the barley room, where trays of barley were laid out before us, depicting each stage in the process of malting – something not often, if at all, seen in other distilleries, which usually limit you to the ‘before and after’ products. The distillery grows its own barley in the surrounding fields, which it owns. “We are not going to be ramping up production straight away,” says Conyngham. “I hope to produce our first crop of organic barley to go into the whisky.” There is no malting plant, but the distillery works with Minch Malt, which is able to track and trace each batch of barley.

Our tour is, for a part, handed over to distillery manager Alan Buckley. As he talks us through the running of the distillery, workmen are busy behind us conducting final tests of the equipment. As we move to take a look at the washbacks, the sound of drilling and hammering fills our ears – the sound of the lids being put atop the additional washbacks in the adjoining room. Slane’s timber washbacks are made form Siberian Larch wood. Buckley explains the fermentation takes between 48-60 hours, creating a wash of around 8.5% abv.

“We will develop our own yeast strain,” says Buckley. “That’s going to be another level of innovation to bring to the project in the future. We might use different yeast for different whiskeys.” Ambitions are high, and Buckley is evidently eager to get distilling under way and plans on running a “sacrificial mash” this week to test the system.

And then behold, the still room. Its three copper pot stills had to be lowered in through the roof as the beams of the original structure could not be moved, a “hairy moment” in the distillery’s building, says Conyngham. The wash still brings the spirit up to 20% abv, before it is redistilled to 50% abv and then 85% abv. The distillery also boasts six column stills, and this was because Conyngham was not allowed to build column stills six or seven storeys high due to the site’s protected status. So the decision was taken to half their size and double the quantity.

We move through a small crevice in the wall and into the diminutive cooperage, which will eventually be used for barrel repairs. Slane Irish Whiskey is currently aged in three types of casks: virgin, seasoned and Sherry. The bespoke, heavily toasted casks have been designed by Brown-Forman in Kentucky specifically for Slane. “Brown-Forman initially didn’t want to use Sherry,” said Conyngham. “So we persuaded them to come to Jerez and they understood where we were coming from. We persuaded them we needed to go back to what was traditionally used to balance the American whiskey influence. It’s the backbone of Slane Whiskey.”

It’s always a rare treat to sample whiskey straight from the barrel so it was with great excitement that we headed to the cask holding room, which once housed pigs. The space is used to bring the abv of the spirit down to cask-filling strength through the reduction vat, before being filled into casks. We sipped on drams of whisky from the virgin oak casks, and another from the Sherry cask to get a taste of the whiskey that is then blended together to make the final Slane product.

Once the tour was complete, Slane ambassador Lynch re-joined the group for a Valentine’s-themed, hands-on cocktail masterclass, where we were tasked with shaking up our own drinks made with Slane Irish Whiskey, a plum and almond purée, lemon juice, Campari and soda water.

But a trip to Ireland wouldn’t be complete without a good ol’ knees-up in a traditional Irish pub, and so it was on to Boyles Pub for a night of live music, plentiful drams of Slane and a Guinness or two for good measure.

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