Welcome to the home of the Award Winning Cooley Distillery, Ireland’s only Independent whiskey distillery - keeping the Independent Spirit of Ireland alive.
Welcome to Cooley
A warm welcome to the home of Cooley Distillery, Ireland’s only Independent whiskey distillery. With a vision to revive many of the historical brands and distilling techniques of Irish whiskey, Cooley has developed a portfolio of Award winning whiskeys, from Single Malt to Single Grain whiskeys and all in-between.
About Cooley
In a world dominated by faceless multinational corporations, Cooley takes great pride in its authenticity, passion and drive to develop Irish whiskey. Prior to the founding of Cooley in 1987 the Irish whiskey industry was completely controlled by one company. The dominance of this monopoly lead to a lack of innovation and creativity within the industry and saw many of the historic brands from Irish whiskey's golden past being mothballed.
Cooley is extremely proud of resurrecting some of these historic brands such as Kilbeggan and Tyrconnell Irish whiskey and of keeping them staunchly Independent. We will continue working to revive and restore these ancient brands to their former glory as well as developing exciting new brands of Irish whiskeys such as Connemara Peated Single Malt.
HISTORY OF COOLEY
Cooley Distillery was established in 1987 with a clear vision to restore some of the ancient brands of Irish whiskey to their former glory. At the same time, Cooley’s goal was to create more choice for consumers through innovation and the revival of old distilling techniques.
When Cooley was established it was the first new whiskey distillery to be set up in Ireland in over 100 years. Its creation ended the monopoly in the production of Irish whiskey and brought much needed competition back to the industry.
Although Cooley was established in 1987, the seeds for its creation first came to John Teeling (Cooley's Chairman and founder) in the 1970s when he was studying in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
There John first conceived of the potential for a new entrant to the Irish whiskey industry. As part of his studies he did a project on the demise of the once dominant Irish whiskey industry and at the same time he saw firsthand how poorly Irish whiskey was being promoted internationally. This opened his eyes to the potential for a more innovative newcomer to the industry.
During the 1900's Irish whiskey was the drink of choice around the world. Unfortunately three major setbacks had a dramatic effect on the success of the Irish whiskey industry - the Irish War of Independence, US Prohibition and the introduction of Scotch blended whisky. Against such a "perfect storm", the Irish whiskey industry battled to stay above water. By 1966 the number of distilleries operating in Ireland had dropped to a paltry four. This soon became two as Jameson, Powers and Cork Distilleries merged to form Irish Distillers and then finally to one when Bushmills joined Irish Distillers Group in the early 1970's.
For nearly two decades, Irish whiskey was controlled by one company. Such a monopoly did little to develop Irish whiskey. The creation of Cooley Distillery in 1987 brought a breath of fresh air to the Irish whiskey industry.
Cooley Distillery was the first new whiskey distillery in Ireland in over a century. The first step was to acquire a production facility on the picturesque Cooley peninsula. This was followed by the acquisition of some famous old brands from Irish whiskey's history such as Tyrconnell Irish whiskey. Cooley then set about acquiring The Old Kilbeggan Distillery that had been mothballed during the previous 50 years.
Since 1987 Irish whiskey has being making up lost ground and has been the fastest growing segment within the brown spirits industry. Following the sale of Irish Distillers (owners of Jameson, Paddy and Powers) to the French multinational company Pernod Ricard, and the subsequent sale of Bushmills to the UK multinational Diageo, Cooley is today the only Irish owned Irish whiskey distillery.
OUR AWARDS
The whisky industry places huge importance on the history and heritage of distilleries. For any new start-up the most important aspect is to ensure the quality and consistency of the whiskey produced. Since it was founded, Cooley has worked long and hard to create whiskeys of the absolute highest quality. Today this hard work has paid off and Cooley enjoys an international reputation as a world-class distillery. With over 300 medals and the prestigious title of “World Distiller of the Year” (IWSC 2008), “European Distiller of the Year” (IWSC 2008 & 2009) and “Distillery of the Year” (Malt Advocate 2010) to its name, there are truly few distilleries that can boast such an array of awards.
COOLEY FOLKLORE
Cooley Distillery is located on the Cooley Peninsula, an area steeped in natural beauty and breathtaking scenery. Close by is the picturesque medieval village of Carlingford. Besides being an area of natural beauty and a perfect location for a whiskey distillery, the Cooley Peninsula has been at the heart of some of the greatest stories in Irish folklore. In particular, Cooley is famous for a story about Ireland's legendary mythical warrior, Cúchulainn and a brown bull in one of Ireland's oldest epics, the "Cattle Raid of Cooley".
This mythical story centres around Queen Maeve of Connaught. After an argument with her husband, Ailill, about who had the most wealth, Maeve became jealous of a magnificent White Bull Ailill owned. The only bull that could match his bull was a renowned Brown Bull owned by Daire, chieftain of Ulster. The story goes that Maeve's messenger was sent to request a loan of the bull, but drunk on whiskey he bragged that Maeve could take the bull by force if necessary. This enraged Daire who sent him back empty handed.
Queen Maeve did not like to be told no and declared war on Ulster in order to get her hands on the Brown Bull. As her armies set off the men of Ulster were afflicted by a debilitating curse, leaving only the seventeen-year-old Cúchulainn to defend Ulster single-handedly. For three days he kept the Connaught forces at bay until he had to fight his best friend Ferdiad who was in exile in Connaught. This resulted in an epic battle which Cúchulainn eventually won. However, during this fight the Brown Bull was captured by Connaught and later defeated Ailill's White Bull, after which peace was made between the two sides.
VISIT US
Cooley Distillery is situated north-east of Dublin on the scenic Cooley Peninsula. Nestled in the foothills of the Cooley Mountains, it is a perfect location for a whiskey distillery due to its access to clean, pure water from the river that runs down from the Slieve na gCloc mountains right by the distillery. Cooley Distillery is a fully operational distillery and tours are available on a strictly pre-booked basis. Not your average Distillery visit, Cooley’s hard hat tour takes you behind the scenes to see how Award winning whiskey is really made. During your visit you will be looked after by Cooley’s own distillery staff led by Eddie Marmion, Warehouse Manager.
We would be delighted to welcome you to our distillery to share our passion for whiskey distilling. For further information please complete the booking form and send it back to us.
Directions to Cooley from Dublin:
- Take the M1 Dublin to Belfast road.
- Exit the M1 at Junction 18
- Follow the Signs for Carlingford (R173).
- After approx. 12 km, you will come to the area of Riverstown
- Take the first left turn after the Old Mill Restaurant and before Martins Pub.
- The Distillery is 100m up the road on the left hand side.
- GPS Co-ordinates –
We also operate a Visitor Centre at the Kilbeggan Distillery which is the oldest distillery in the World. Please visit www.kilbegganwhiskey.com for more information.
Our Whiskey
Cooley is unique in that we have both a Grain and Malt distillery, allowing us to create a wide range of Irish whiskey styles. Our complementary portfolio of whiskeys means you can enjoy the full spectrum of tastes available from Irish whiskey. Each whiskey has a signature flavour allowing you to experience and appreciate the special way in which it has been distilled and matured. For more information on each whiskey, please click below.
MALT WHISKEY
Due to the nature of its distillation and ingredients, Malt whiskey tends to have more flavour and character than Grain whiskey. The ingredients are simply 100% malted barley, water and yeast, distilled in small batches using copper pot stills. Subtle changes in how the barley is malted or the whiskey matured have a profound effect on the taste profile.
GRAIN WHISKEY
The raw ingredients for Grain whiskey are simply maize, water and yeast with a small amount of malted barley to start the fermentation process. Grain whiskey tends to have a lighter flavour than Malt whiskey and its principal purpose is to be mixed with the more flavoursome Malt whiskey to produce an easy to drink Blend. However, at Cooley we produce a Grain whiskey that is good enough to drink in its own right. The result is our Single Grain whiskey, Greenore.
BLENDED WHISKEY
Irish whiskey is normally associated with Blended whiskey, a combination of Malt and Grain whiskeys. Malt whiskey tends to have more robust flavour whilst Grain whiskey is a lighter, smoother style of whiskey. Blending the two together creates a taste profile suitable to most palates. Most distilleries only produce either Malt or Grain whiskey but at Cooley we produce both. This means we can ensure only the highest quality of Malt and Grain whiskey will make up our award winning Blends. Cooley's Master Blender, Noel Sweeney, regularly checks the progress of the maturing casks. When he decides they are ready, casks containing the finest Malt and Grain whiskeys are blended together to create Kilbeggan Irish whiskey.
DISTILLATION PROCESS
To make Irish whiskey requires three key ingredients - pure clean water, with which Ireland is fortunately blessed, cereals of grain and barley and most importantly experience. Whiskey has been made in Ireland for hundreds of years and by drawing on this rich whiskey making heritage the whiskeys of Cooley are born.
Step 1 – Mashing
This involves grinding down the cereal, be it grain or malted barley, into a rough flour known as grist. This will then be mixed together with water in big vats called mash tuns. Heating this mixture converts the starch in the grains into sugar which is needed to make alcohol. The result is a sweet non-alcoholic liquid called "wort".
Step 2 – Fermentation
The wort is sent to the fermenter and yeast is added to begin the fermentation process. The yeast converts the sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Fermentation takes a few days and when it is completed the liquid is now called "wash" and contains a low level of alcohol. The next step is distillation to get a spirit much higher in alcohol.
Step 3 - Distillation
The wash is now sent to a still.
Cooley is very unique in that it has both a Grain and Malt distillery on the same site. The still used will depend on the type of whiskey being made. If the wash is made from maize it is sent to a column still to make Grain whiskey. If it is made from malted barley it is sent to pot stills to produce Single Malt whiskey.
In the stills the wash is heated to just below the boiling point of water, as alcohol boils at a lower temperature than water. As the heat rises, the alcohol in the wash is turned into vapour. This vapour is condensed and returned to liquid form before being distilled a second time.
The second distillation is more controlled and this is where the final spirit is collected. Not all of this spirit will be suitable so, as the liquid flows through the spirit-safe, the master distiller decides which part of the spirit is to his satisfaction, this is known as "making the cut".
Step 4 – Maturation
The spirit is then matured in oak casks for a minimum of three years but in practice much longer. This allows the flavour of this whiskey to develop and the progress of the casks is regularly checked by our Master Blender Noel Sweeney. Once Noel judges that they have reached the necessary quality to be worthy of the Cooley name they will be bottled as one of our Single Malt range, Greenore Single Grain or blended together to make Kilbeggan Irish whiskey.
Corporate
Cooley Distillery is a 100% Irish owned company. Set-up by Irish entrepreneur John Teeling in 1987, Cooley has a small group of loyal shareholders who share the same vision for the creation of an indigenous export-orientated Irish whiskey distillery.
Consisting of a skilled, experienced workforce, healthy finances and plentiful stocks of award winning whiskeys, Cooley is well positioned to take advantage of the opportunities that are emerging in the fast growing Irish whiskey industry.
Cooley has an annual capacity of 250,000 cases of 9 litre cases of Single Malt and 800,000 9 litre cases Grain whiskey with room to add significant extra capacity as the demand develops.
IRISH WHISKEY MARKET
Irish whiskey has been the fastest growing brown spirit category for the past 10 years and continues to grow by over 10% per annum. The worldwide sales of Irish whiskey stand at around 5 million cases. By comparison, Scotch whisky sells over 90 million cases worldwide so Irish whiskey still only represents a small section of the overall whisk(e)y market, but one that offers significant opportunities for considerable growth.
Traditionally Ireland has been the largest market for Irish whiskey; however this was surpassed by the US market in 2006. The US market continues to the key driver for Irish whiskey with growth of over 10% for the past few years.
This is coupled with Irish whiskey making significant inroads in emerging markets around the world, with particularly strong growth coming from Eastern Europe, Russia, Brazil and South Africa. Irish whiskey sales are forecasted to reach 8 million cases by 2015.
The continued strength in Irish whiskey from a now larger base and the emergence of new markets provides plenty of opportunities for Cooley.
Contact Us
Sales & Marketing
Cooley Distillery Plc
162 Clontarf Road
Dublin 3
Ireland
Tel; 00353 1 833 2833
Fax; 00353 1 833 3505
Distillery
Cooley Distillery
Riverstown
Cooley
Co. Louth
Ireland
Tel: 00353 42 937 6102
Fax; 00353 42 937 6484