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Distillery Profile - Clonakilty Irish Whiskey
CRAFT WHISKEY, UNINTERRUPTED
The Clonakilty Family Perfects Irish Whiskey As Ireland's Maritime Distillery
By Joseph Luparello
Clonakilty Distillery rests on the southern tip of the Irish Atlantic coast, where mother nature exhibits her beauty uninterrupted. The small, family-run, state-of-the-art distillery is named after its highly regarded hometown of Clonakilty, Ireland. Winner of best town in Europe back in 2017, the welcoming seaside city possesses the ultimate environment for nurturing crops.
But that’s no news to the founders of Clonakilty, the Scully family, who have farmed the Irish coastal land for nine consecutive generations. All those years building cultivation expertise led to an idea that some believe was predestined all along.
In 2018, Clonakilty opened its doors with a goal to create whiskey by using the perfect ingredients for a maritime distillery: prime land, pristine water, and salt sea air. The Scully’s grow their heritage barley on the family farm near the Galley Head lighthouse. Centuries of sea mist, soft rain, and ocean spray provide a complexity to the soil permeating each grain.
The state-of-the-art distillery is situated a few miles away at the waterfront, in the heart of Clonakilty. Here, the Scully family distills the world’s best new make single pot still, a title they secured at the World Whiskey Awards in 2020.
Perched 200ft above the ocean, Clonakilty's Atlantic Ocean warehouse provides everything necessary for maturing and finishing the finest whiskeys. Pure clean air, transported across thousands of miles of the Atlantic Ocean, provides a freshness unbothered by human intervention. Almost every step takes place at the warehouse, including blending, aging, bottling, and hand-labeling. After the casks are filled with whiskey, all that’s left to do is simply let the Irish salty sea air do its thing.
The Clonakilty family also creates gin. Inspired by the majestic Minke whales of the Atlantic Ocean, Minke Irish Gin is made using various botanicals that grow wild along the shoreline adjacent to Clonakilty distillery. While in season, members of the distillery climb the cliff along its shoreline to sustainably harvest the gin’s signature botanical ingredient, Rock Samphire. For centuries, Rock Samphire has been recognized as a premium garnish and is frequently used at Michelinstarred restaurants in Europe, as it is not grown in the United States. The base spirit used to make Minke Gin is derived from whey, produced from Clonakilty’s 9th generation family farm near Galley Head Lighthouse. This gives Minke Irish Gin a unique velvety texture and mouthfeel to each delicious drop.
The Irish distillers express gratitude for the planet by partaking in environmental efforts. For instance, they are a proud member of Bord Bia’s Origin Green, an independently certified commitment to sustainable corporate practice. They also don’t forget to show love toward their maritime neighbors and are sponsors of Whale and Dolphin Conservation, a global maritime conservation initiative.
