Slane Castle Distillery

Pride In Slane

When a building is given the status of ‘national treasure’, a development application for a distillery inside the 300-year-old protected structures, could be a tricky one to get past council. The Slane Distillery opened this year having done exactly that; navigating the process with zero objections, only letters of support from locals looking forward to the next stage in the history of an iconic estate.

Slane Castle and the estate have been an integral part of the life of the area since the early 18th century when the Conynghams moved from Ulster to Slane. The grounds are simply breath-taking, and the first glimpse of the castle, as you enter the property, is both awe-inspiring and stately. The long driveway sweeps you past the stables and towards the castle. The stables, themselves dating back to the 18th century, is where the new distillery is housed – though without signage you’d never know.

“Growing up in Slane was pretty extraordinary. Not everyone gets to grow up in a castle. Hide and seek was good,” explains Alex Conyngham, the eldest son of Lord Henry Mount Charles and current Earl of Mount Charles.

One of four children; two boys and two girls, Alex Conyngham, is following in his father’s footsteps and immersing himself in the life of Slane. He lives on the estate with his wife Carina and three children. Carina Conyngham (nee Bolton) is also fully involved, managing and developing a gold-certified ecotourism business and a fully bio-dynamic farm on the opposite bank of the Boyne River, overlooking the castle.

Alex Conyngham returned to help his father on the estate in 2007, having spent some years “broadening his horizons”, including a stint in Australia.

The castle has been a private home for 200 years and enjoyed exceptional salmon fishing on the Boyne River which attracted paying fishermen from all over Europe. When the local government undertook a dredging scheme in the 70’s the salmon beds were ruined, and the estate lost an essential source of income.

“The truth of the matter is this estate is expensive to run, and my father has for many years had to adapt to some very challenging circumstances. Dad was the last to fully grow up in the castle. When I arrived, he needed to make a plan and save the place financially, so we grew up with the castle being a building that was very much open to the public. That’s how Slane has survived.”

Slane was really put on the map with the launch of the rock concerts that brought many of the world’s top acts to the area and had Irish rock band U2 record their hit album, Unforgettable Fire, in the castle itself.

“It was Dad’s idea. Dad is a maverick. He’s the one that came here in his early twenties, and kept the place going, opening the castle up to the public; then a restaurant followed by a nightclub. And then the real fundamental change came when he decided to host the first rock concert in 1981. It was during a tough time for Ireland. 1981 was the time of the hunger strikes and Bobby Sands. The first show headlined with Thin Lizzy and U2 in support. That changed everything for Slane.”

The concerts have since gone on to significant fame, hosting the who’s who of the music industry including Guns N Roses, Foo Fighters, Oasis, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Robbie Williams, Queen, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, and U2 three times.

The concerts brought significant revenue into the area, but Lord Henry Mount Charles recognised that another business was required to work for the estate all year round. In 2008, a year after his son had returned, he decided that business was to produce whiskey under the Slane Castle name. Four years later and the family decided to take control of their own production and develop a distillery on-site at the castle.

The relationship between the Conyngham family and the land is evident from the way Carina runs the farm to the meticulous planning and development that, in partnership with Brown Forman, the family have developed the distillery. Much of this Alex credits to his grandfather.

“My grandfather was very passionate about conservation and understanding that we are just one of many things living in the landscape. He really taught that to me, so when we approached the whiskey project and indeed the farming, I already strongly believed in nurturing nature.”

“You need to work with it rather than against it. Making whiskey is the same thing. That’s why, for example, we have timber washbacks not stainless steel, as the microbes that live in gaps between the timber ultimately add positive flavour notes to the whiskey. You can use stainless steel, and it’s better for sanitation, but ultimately that means having to use chemicals for cleaning, and we

“The organic system just seems to make more sense, as you’re using natural means of building up fertility in the soil rather than artificial inputs.”

didn’t want to do that. We approach farming in the same way.”

“The organic system just seems to make more sense, as you’re using natural means of building up fertility in the soil rather than artificial inputs.”

“We have loads of heat recovery in the building, so whenever we are cooling something down, we are heating something else up. The building is state of the art in sustainability.”

“When we first told people we wanted to build a distillery everyone thought we were stark raving mad. But we received no objections. We got all the design work done before we went for planning permission.”

The Conynham’s then invited the entire Slane community to come down to the castle for a ‘public consultation’.

“I planned to deal with some difficult questions, but when we got to the Q&A the only question I received was “when’s it going to open?” That was it. Then we lodged our application, and it was all approved without objection. In fact, we received numerous letters of support.’

History is on their side, the Boyne Valley was a haven for distilling back at the height of the Irish whiskey boom in the 19th century due to access to locally grown barley, the water source and of course the Boyne doubling up as transport to the world.

“We are bringing distilling back to the Boyne Valley; there is another small distillery and brewery down the road, but this is definitely the largest in the Boyne Valley,” said Conyngham

Today, the project is a partnership between the Conyngham family and Brown-Forman, who acquired the brand in 2015. The day the deal was announced was a proud one for the Conyngham family. Since the 1970’s the estate had been unable to employ as many of the locals as the family would have liked, it’s clearly been tough at times and the involvement of Brown-Forman in the distillery project injected new life into the estate.

“Now, between the distillery, the castle (including the restaurant and bar) and my wife’s business on the “Rock Farm”, we are employing over 70 people, which for a village of about 1200 that’s great news for the local economy - and for me personally a real moment of pride as I feel we’ve come full circle. It’s especially rewarding for Dad.

“The partnership with BrownForman came about after we initially had dinner with Garvin Brown, the Chairman. We spoke about the whiskey business and the Irish whiskey opportunity, and while that was an important part, we spent more time talking about what it means to be a family business.”

The Conyngham’s have been on the land since 1703, and the Brown’s have been going since 1870; a shared philosophy of sustainable development and generational planning has seen a meeting of minds and values that bodes a healthy future for the families working together for generations to come.

Sainte.