Category: Midleton

One Month, Part One

We left Durham on the morning of 29 January, passingthrough Philadelphia on the way to Dublin, where we arrived after the overnight flight on the morning of the 30th. Rented a car in Dublin and drove through Kildare to Athlone, where we spent a few nights in the town of Claire’s grandfather’s last Irish residence.

The trip got off to an auspicious start, as we shared our flight with the legendary John Prine.

We also stopped at St. Brigid’s Well, one of several sites to share that name, in Kildare. St. Brigid’s Day, 1 February, is supposedly the second most observed saint’s day in Ireland, but we saw very little of that when we arrived in Cork on the first.

We drank some of Sean’s whiskey and ale, from the oldest pub in Ireland, and probably in Europe, dating back to the year 900 AD.

All of that was prep for our 60 day stay in Cork City, which we are halfway through. Good time to take stock.

Before we left North Carolina, we went through what we thought was a comprehensive checklist of things that could go wrong, and prepared as well as we could. We hired an arborist to to evaluate and take down trees which might threaten the house, and tried, though unsuccessfully, to eliminate the intermittent failures in the fridge. The workaround appears to have taken, though, so we’ll deal with that on our return.

Our main concerns in Ireland were for the weather and the exchange rate. We have no control over either, of course, other than to prepare. Our rain gear has worked out. That’s good news, as Cork received roughly twice as much rain this February as in any previous. It’s been colder than anticipated, but still above freezing on even the coldest nights. Even on our arrival, the sun was setting at 6, so that wasn’t much of an issue. I guess we’re pretty far west in the time zone, because the first week we were here it wasn’t getting light until 8:30 or so. But now, three weeks out from the equinox, it’s getting light before 8, and staying light until nearly 7.

The first crescent of the new moon and Venus have been dancing together a few nights each month after sunset. We have a great view of the western sky from our balcony. Unfortunately, the weather has not cooperated, and i’ve missed out on catching any good photos. Should get one more chance in 26 days just before we leave.

We’ve walked all throughout the city, averaging better than 5 miles a day. As far east as Blackrock Castle, and south to the suburb of Douglas.

North to Glen River Park, and west to where the river splits into the two branches that turn City Center into an island.

Before leaving the US, we had thought about booking a kayak tour around the Island. But having walked around the whole thing, and seen the river in its various angry stages, neither of us is in the mood for that.

Can’t talk about Ireland without talking about beer and whiskey. Our first visit three years ago, we mostly stuck with the Guinness regardless of where in the country we were. Here in Cork, it’s been the local brews, Murphy’s and Beamish. Pro tip from one of our bartenders – the Beamish is better in the Douglas Street pubs, and i can’t say he was wrong.

As in the US, craft brewing has made some inroads against the big brewers. Unlike the US, i can’t say they’re an improvement over the traditional beers. We are walking distance to 3 of Cork’s small breweries, Franciscan Well, Rising Sons, and Elbow Lane. Of those, i thought Elbow Lane had the best beers, but it’s mostly a high end restaurant rather than a drinking establishment. Rising Sons is a great place to watch sporting events, and Franciscan Well is a nice little live performance room, but neither has beers that struck me as superior to the Murphy’s, or even Guinness.

The big distillery in these parts is in Midleton. The old part is now used for public tours, while most of the whiskey is produced in the modern, off-limits distillery. We also did a craft whiskey tasting at one of the local establishments, and came up with some favorites that may not be available for purchase in the states. Could be a stop at the duty free shop is in our future on the way home. Midleton is also home to the Kindred Spirits monument. Full blog posts about our visit below.

Later on, some thoughts about food and people. But right now, the sun is shining, and we’re headed out the door to Cross Haven.

Tags John Prine, River Lee, Stout, Whiskey

Ireland Midleton

Midleton: Distillery

After the Kindred Spirits memorial, and probably before it in most minds, Midleton is best known as the home of the Jameson whiskey distillery. In actuality, the distillery is home to a number of brands belonging to Irish Distillers, a joint venture between the Jameson, Powers, and Cork distillers formed in the mid 1960s, at a time when the whiskey industry worldwide was at a nadir. The original distillery was constructed in the 1700s as a wool mill, and eventually became a distillery around 1825. It was a production distillery through 1975, when the new distillery was constructed adjacent. The old buildings were converted to a visitor center in the early 90s.

I’ve toured the Bourbon Trail in Kentucky a few times. I’ve also been a home brewer for about 30 years, so i have a bit of background in how corn or barley are turned into alcohol, and how alcohol is turned into whiskey. Even so, the unique history of the Midleton Distillery, and the enthusiasm of Connor, our tour guide, made this a very enjoyable 90 minutes.

*Exterior of the old distillery, with copper pot still.*

The tour starts with a short film explaining some of the history of whiskey making in Ireland, particularly of the Jameson brand, before you get into the details. Jameson is the most widely distributed of the brands produced here, especially in the US, but i’ve been able to purchase the Redbreast 12 year, and a John Powers whiskey back home in NC.

In the past, the buildings we toured were in use as grain warehouses, malting houses, and milleries in addition to distilling stations.

*Tour guide Connor holds up a tile from the old maltings. The small indentations allow the soaked grain to begin to sprout; larger holes on the bottom of the tile allow air to circulate.*

*After germinating, the grain has to be kiln dried. The kiln floors can get hot, so this was the 19th century solution to keeping your feet from burning.*

The main thing I’ve learned that differentiates Irish whiskey from any other style, is that it is distilled from a mixture of malted and unmalted, that is, germinated and ungerminated, barley. This came about mostly as a result of the British Crown’s taxation policies. Malted barley was taxed at a much higher rate than unmalted barley. In order to keep at least some profits in house, Irish distillers learned how to balance the two types in their production processes. After the sprouted grain was kiln dried, it was then milled into grist onsite.

As in beer making, the crushed grain is mashed to encourage the conversion of starch into sugars. The resulting wort is then cooled for a bit, before yeast is introduced to turn that sugar into alcohol. In this case, it was transferred to 45,000 gallon wooden tanks.

*No, seriously, 45,000 gallon wooden tanks, hanging out 10 feet above your head. At a pound a pint, that’s 180 tons of liquid.*

Distilling is the process of separating the alcohol from the fermented wort. There’s a couple of ways of doing that, but they all take advantage of the fact that alcohol boils at a lower temperature than water. You heat the liquid to somewhere around 180° F, collect the alcohol laden vapor in a tube, then chill it and catch the condensate in a separate tank. Which impurities you leave in, and which you take out, is part of the distiller’s art. Traditionally, Irish whiskey was all made in a copper single pot still, like the one in the first picture above. Now, most are made using a combination of pot stills and column stills. The latter is common in bourbon making. Irish whiskeys made the traditional way are labeled as single pot still.

*This is apparently the largest pot still in the world. It was so big, and the room so small, that even with my widest angle I couldn’t get all of it in the frame. So here’s a closeup.*

*These three are much smaller, and are in use in the testing rooms, where new recipes are concocted and tried out. I suspect they are much newer than the big boy.*

The second part of the distiller’s art is the aging. American bourbons are aged for a minimum of two years in charred oak barrels, which can only be used once. The warehouses are a couple of stories high, and the barrels are rotated from the top to the bottom at least once, because the temperature differences, both throughout the year, and across the building, are great enough that a barrel allowed to age in the warmer top story in the summer will impart a different flavor to its whiskey than one on the floor in the winter.

Temperatures in Ireland are not so variable, and the warehouses are generally a single story. So the barrels are stacked three high, and not rotated during the aging process. Different types of barrels are used, including former bourbon and sherry barrels, as well as some virgin oak barrels. Much Irish whiskey is actually matured in a sequence of barrels, which can be re-used up to 3 times before being discarded. Most of the discards end up in Cuba, where they are used to age rum.

Master Distiller Barry Crockett grew up on the site. Some of the last whiskey produced by his father was made available for purchase recently, at $40,000/bottle. You had to act fast, though. All 48 bottles sold out in a couple of days. Maybe start saving for the 2021 release.

Tags Jameson, Midleton Very Rare, Pot still, Whiskey

Ireland Midleton Trains Traveling

Midleton: Town & Kindred Spirits

Post author By barry
Post date February 25, 2020
1 Comment on Midleton: Town & Kindred Spirits

Yesterday we took the train into Midleton. It’s about a half hour ride, most of the way sharing the same track as the train to Cobh, splitting off for the final two stops.

Midleton is a bit smaller than Cobh, with much less waterfront and no harbor to speak of. There are two main points of interest, the distillery and the Kindred Spirits memorial. I’ll make a separate post about the distillery, but here’s some thoughts and images about the memorial and the town.

Directly adjacent to the train station is Midleton’s hurling pitch. Unfortunately for us, the next match is a few months down the road.

This sculpture, near where the railway road lets you off into town, is entitled Flock of Geese, or some such. Seems to me that “Halp!” would be more appropriate.

Midleton is, essentially, a single main street kind of town. It’s about 7 or 8 blocks long, with enough restaurants, bars, bake shops, etc., for a town thrice its size, and a decent number of shoe stores, clothing stores, & real estate offices as well. The alleys and side lanes hold a few surprises, too.

Adjacent to the distillery is a pollinator garden. It’s still winter (even if the pagan calendar says it’s early spring), so not much is blooming. Roughly double the normal amount of rain has fallen across the country this February, so every small creek is racing.

The Kindred Spirits memorial is in a small park, roughly a kilometer south of the town center. Enough has been said about the memorial elsewhere that i don’t need to add anything. It was a truly humbling experience. I hope some of my photos can convey that feeling.