Old Tullamore Distillery
| Location | Tullamore |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 53°16′39.8″N 7°29′35.7″W / 53.277722°N 7.493250°WCoordinates: 53°16′39.8″N 7°29′35.7″W / 53.277722°N 7.493250°W |
| Founded | 1829 |
| Founder | Michael Molloy |
| Status | Defunct / Museum since 2012 |
| No. of stills | 4 pot stills: 2 x 16,000 gallons, 1 x 10,500 gallons, 1 x 5,500 gallons; a Coffey still was added in 1948 |
| Capacity | 500,000 gallons per annum |
| Mothballed | 1954 |
| Website | https://www.tullamoredew.com/en-gb/visit-us/ |
| Tullamore Dew | |
The Old Tullamore Distillery was an Irish whiskey distillery which was established in Tullamore, County Offaly, Ireland in 1829. The original home of Tullamore Dew Irish whiskey, the distillery closed in 1954, having endured financial difficulties for many years, like many Irish whiskey distilleries of the early 20th century.
The Tullamore Dew brand was later sold to John Powers & Co., now part of Irish Distillers, with production transferred to the Midleton Distillery. In 2010, the brand was purchased by William Grant & Sons, who invested €35 million in the construction of a new distillery in Tullamore. The new Tullamore Distillery opened in 2014, bringing production of the whiskey back to Tullamore following a break of sixty years.
In 2012, a whiskey museum, the Tullamore D.E.W. Visitor Centre opened in a restored former bonded warehouse belonging to the old distillery on Bury Quay.
In the 1780s, there were over thirty registered distilleries in operation in County Offaly, then called King's County, with two operating in Tullamore. Those in Tullamore were run by a George Hamilton, and a Joseph Flanagan. However, due to the effects of a change in excise duties in 1779, the number of registered distilleries in operation decreased significantly, so that by 1818 only two registered distileries remained in operation in the entire county, both in the town of Birr.
In 1823, excise regulations were significantly reformed, leading to renewed investment in distilling. One of the new investors was Michael Molloy, who in 1829, established a new distillery on the site of Joseph Flanagan's previous operation on Bridge Street, which had operated from at least 1784 to the early 1800s. At the time, Molloy's family, well known merchants in the town, also ran a grocery and wine merchants business on Bridge Street. In the 1830s, Molloy expanded the distilling operation, purchasing an adjoining mill on Patrick Street, and by 1832, the distillery had an output of over 20,000 gallons per annum.
In 1846, Molloy died unmarried, leaving the distillery and £15,000 to his five nephews. Subsequently, the distillery was sold by the Court of Chancery to Molloy's brother Anthony for £2,700. When Anthony died, he bequeathed the distillery to his nephew Bernard Daly, one of the five nephews who had originally inherited it in 1846.
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Wikipedia