Sliabh Liag Distillery
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The breathtakingly beautiful and rugged landscape of Donegal borders the wild Atlantic Ocean in northwestern Ireland. In the 19th century, this remote place was home to scores of legal and illicit distilleries. Back then, Donegal Poitín—primarily made using copper stills and barley—was renowned for its quality and was highly sought after. Like so many other things in Ireland, the Great Famine put an end to distilling in Donegal, and the last legal distillery in the area—William Leathem’s Bohillion Farm distillery—produced its last drop in 1841. Cut to 2013, when the grandson of a renowned Poitín man and his wife enter the story.
Sliabh Liag founder James Doherty cut his spirit teeth at WM Grant and Sons, where he worked with Glenfiddich and Hendricks, amongst other brands. Following his successful, globetrotting career in the drinks industry, Doherty and his wife Moira upped sticks to James’s remote ancestral home on the Donegal coast, where the sea lashes the Sliabh Liag (pronounced Sleeve Leeg) peninsula. By this time the couple’s vision to revive the great distilling heritage of the region had already begun to take seed. In 2017, after years of working through the byzantine laws that control Irish duty and excise, Sliabh Liag became Donegal’s first legal distillery to open for over 175 years.
From their temporary gin distillery in Kilcar, Sliabh Liag have launched two spirits—The Silkie, a blended Irish Whiskey (sourced), and An Dúlamán, an extraordinary gin designed to showcase the crisp, sea breeze salinity of this wild coastline. A new whiskey and gin distillery is now underway in the beautiful, historic market town of Ardara, on Donegal’s Wild Atlantic Way. Using recipes focussed strongly on local ingredients, it is here that the Doherty’s plan to resurrect the ancient tradition of Donegal’s smoke-rich, Irish whiskies—a style made before the industrial revolution—as well as producing a straight Poitín and various extensions of their maritime gin.
Sliabh Liag has chosen its timing well. Irish whiskey is beginning to gain significant recognition worldwide, and the craft gin movement is showing no sign of flagging. Provenance and authenticity have never been more critical to today’s clued-up drinkers. With the quality of the first releases, Doherty and Co. have put down a weighty marker. Obviously, we’re yet to see the Donegal whiskies—the first new make will not be distilled until the end of 2020—but everything we have seen and tasted tells us we’re witnessing the incubation period of a very exciting project indeed. Welcome back to the table, Donegal.
Sliabh Liag founder James Doherty cut his spirit teeth at WM Grant and Sons, where he worked with Glenfiddich and Hendricks, amongst other brands. Following his successful, globetrotting career in the drinks industry, Doherty and his wife Moira upped sticks to James’s remote ancestral home on the Donegal coast, where the sea lashes the Sliabh Liag (pronounced Sleeve Leeg) peninsula. By this time the couple’s vision to revive the great distilling heritage of the region had already begun to take seed. In 2017, after years of working through the byzantine laws that control Irish duty and excise, Sliabh Liag became Donegal’s first legal distillery to open for over 175 years.
From their temporary gin distillery in Kilcar, Sliabh Liag have launched two spirits—The Silkie, a blended Irish Whiskey (sourced), and An Dúlamán, an extraordinary gin designed to showcase the crisp, sea breeze salinity of this wild coastline. A new whiskey and gin distillery is now underway in the beautiful, historic market town of Ardara, on Donegal’s Wild Atlantic Way. Using recipes focussed strongly on local ingredients, it is here that the Doherty’s plan to resurrect the ancient tradition of Donegal’s smoke-rich, Irish whiskies—a style made before the industrial revolution—as well as producing a straight Poitín and various extensions of their maritime gin.
Sliabh Liag has chosen its timing well. Irish whiskey is beginning to gain significant recognition worldwide, and the craft gin movement is showing no sign of flagging. Provenance and authenticity have never been more critical to today’s clued-up drinkers. With the quality of the first releases, Doherty and Co. have put down a weighty marker. Obviously, we’re yet to see the Donegal whiskies—the first new make will not be distilled until the end of 2020—but everything we have seen and tasted tells us we’re witnessing the incubation period of a very exciting project indeed. Welcome back to the table, Donegal.
Sliabh Liag Distillery
The breathtakingly beautiful and rugged landscape of Donegal borders the wild Atlantic Ocean in northwestern Ireland. In the 19th century, this remote place was home t...
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