The Celtic Whiskey Pod

Ulysses Whiskey x Art is a new whiskey journey that celebrates James Joyce's great work in a unique way. The first whiskey release is available to buy in advance now ahead of a release date on Blooms Day this year, you can also buy the whole range of 18 whiskeys in advance from celticwhiskeyshop.com The concept behind each whiskey 'episode' is both complex and intruigi

Westward Whiskey and their parent company have been distilling in Portland Oregon since 2004, and they take a slightly different slant on your usual American Whiskey with their entire focus being on single malt production. It wasn't always that way however, and in the way that has become customary they also started off distilling gin to make ends meet while the whiskey matured.

*Now with improved audio* We caught up with Brian Nation and Patrick O'Shaughnessy during their whistle-stop tour of Ireland. A big milestone for the distillery, this was their launch of their first whiskeys which are named Keeper's Heart Irish + Bourbon and Keeper's Heart Irish + American. We conducted this interview in the Celtic Whiskey Shop the day after a great tas

It was well overdue that we talked to Clonakilty Distillery to find out all about the distillery and their award winning spirit. Housed in a building that was originally meant to be a bank, it has been making spirit since 2019 and in theory is now old enough to be released as whiskey. Oisín joined the team in 2022 and has been very involved in all aspects of production. We talk in

India is one of the most exciting emerging producers of single malt whisky. It is a country that consumes an incredible amount of whisky but that is mostly domestic blends and a number of Scottish blended whiskies. On the international market it is a different story and malt whisk(e)y drinkers across the world are slowly discovering that India has something new to offer, with a bro

In this 7th episode of our second series Al Higgins talks to Sarah Dowling from Cooley Distillery. Since joining the company Sarah has reached the role of Head Distiller and Blender at Cooley. She overseas the operations and also is in charge of blending an chosing casks for their bottlings. We talk about her career which started in Scotland but eventually brought her back home to

In episode 6 of series 2 Al Higgins speaks to Brendan McBride from the Crolly/Croithlí distillery in Donegal. We first sampled the new releases from Crolly at Whiskey Live in June this year and were impressed by their new approach of ageing their whiskeys in different species of oak. Yes, it's been done in various guises as seperate releases from other distillers, but Crolly have

In episode 5 of our second series, I talk to two coopers working in different areas of the Irish whiskey trade. Wood is such an important part of the whiskey making process and without good quality casks we would not have all the wonderfully diverse brands of whiskey available to try.  Ger Buckley probably needs no introduction. He is a 5th generation cooper working at Midleto

Irish wine, whilst very much an emerging category, is already making waves and impressing consumers and restaurateurs. In episode 4 of series two we talk to two of the pioneers in bringing Irish wine to the masses.  First up we visited David Llewellyn of Llewellyn's Orchard. On his farm in Lusk, County Dublin he grows grapes in the open air and also under the cover of polytunn

In the third episode of series two I speak to Peter Mulryan from Blackwater Distillery. Peter has gone from working as a TV producer to writing about whiskey in his book 'The Whiskeys of Ireland', and then onto distilling gin and whiskey at his own Blackwater Distillery in County Waterford.  We talk about Peter's love for crafting and innovating unique spirits, about vintage p