In 1661 heavy taxes were imposed on all whiskey
made in Ireland, which led to an increase in the number of illicit distillers
throughout the country. These distillers took to the bogs, glens and hills of
Ireland to produce a whiskey that generated much needed money for its makers.
Connemara was a prime business location for
these new entrepreneurs. However, the illicit distillers in the region had one
big problem, which was the drying of the malt. It was common that sacks of grain
were left to dry in different places throughout his home so peat was then used
in aiding the quick drying of the malt. Any whiskey produced in Ireland with
a peaty aroma and taste was called "poteen flavoured" as it was not left to
mature for lengthy periods.
In the rural wilds of the West of Ireland,
Connemara in particular, there was ample evidence of illicit distilling. A nineteenth-century
observer Arthur Barnard said of the area that "No men understood better the
localities that could turn out good spirit, and this fact may be seen to this
day when we find many of the oldest distilleries existing upon sites which have
been well-known to have been chosen by smugglers of old as places where the
purest mountain streams, flowing over moss and peat could be used to distil
and produce spirits of the finest description."
And the fall….
As many of the distilleries in Ireland were
located alongside a canal, the transport of coal to the distilleries became
far easier and cheaper. Over time peat was then substituted with coal in the
distilling process. This temporarily killed the tradition of peated whiskeys.
Cooley Distillery has resurrected this process and recreated the Connemara Peated
Single Malt Irish Whiskey to revive this lost tradition.
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