Kilkenny has its first single malt Irish whiskey for first time in 200 years

For the first time in 200 years, Kilkenny has its first single malt Irish whiskey.

Ballykeefe Distillery revived a centuries lost tradition of family farm distilling, where every drop of Whiskey in a Ballykeefe bottle is Triple Distilled in Italian hand-crafted copper pot stills from malted barley, sown, grown and harvested on Morgan Ging’s beef and tillage farm, a 15-minute drive from Kilkenny City. 

The distillery was built in 2016 and began whiskey production in mid-2017, is now releasing just three casks from its first Malt Whiskey distillations. Each cask is being individually bottled for a total of 300 cask strength bottles and 408 bottles at 46% abv for the Christmas market, available from the Distillery on-line shop and selected off-licences.

Each bottle is hand engraved by Kilkenny Crystal and mounted in an impressive presentation box with a certificate of authenticity. There is also a sixteen-page colour brochure on the distillery included with every bottle and cask strength bottles are presented with two hand cut crystal glass tumblers, uniquely designed by Ireland’s oldest family-owned crystal studio workshop, Kilkenny Crystal. Morgan expressed his delight about working with Richard Clancy and his team at Kilkenny Crystal, “they are exceptionally talented craftsmen among a very few, who are hand cutting crystal in Ireland” he said.

Morgan is particularly proud of the role that the distillery plays in diversification of his farm.

“We took a lot of risks with the investment to ensure our eco-friendly credentials of zero off-farm waste, low carbon footprint and a fully sustainable production cycle that sees the  by-products of brewing and distillation recycled as nutritious animal feed for the beef cattle on the farm” he said. Indeed, Ballykeefe Distillery is a multiple award winner for sustainability and a flagship member of Bord Bia’s Origin Green programme. 

Morgan is also delighted with the quality of the spirit emerging from the casks, which he stored in a part of the distillery warehouse where there was a lot of variety in temperature.

Commenting on this, Morgan said “yes we lost more to the angels share through evaporation, but we gained so much in flavours and maturity it more than compensated for that loss in volume.”

“I am delighted with the spirit’s gentle nose, intense surge of fruit and long finish, Whiskey takes patience to make, but now, we have finally arrived at the time to enjoy this wonderful malt whiskey,”