Kilbeggan Distillery

The Locke 's Distillery (also: Kilbeggan Distillery ) is a whiskey distillery in Ireland. The company's headquarters is located in Kilbeggan, County Westmeath. Founded in 1757, the Locke 's Distillery is the oldest continually licensed distillery in the world. From 1957 to 2007, the distillery, however, was shut down. The Kilbeggan Irish whiskey brand and the old distillery buildings are part of the set up in 1987, Cooley Distillery, the only independent whiskey distillery Irish-owned.

History

Founding to 1957

The distillery was founded in 1757 by the family McManus. In 1794 the family Codd took an interest in the Distillery Kilbeggan. They doubled in the first years, the capacity of the distillery. The number of legally registered Irish distilleries, however, was dramatically reduced by increased taxes and government control. The remaining sites increased their production according to the continuing demand for whiskey from the middle class. After a relaxation of the tax laws in 1820, the owner of the distillery Kilbeggan were able to invest in some extensions. This coincided with the opening of a side channel of the Grand Canal to the City of Kilbeggan, which ensured an ideal supply and distribution of water. However, the revival of the Irish whiskey industry proved to be short-lived. The total abstinence movement of Father Theobald Mathew began in 1838, and in a few years, a large amount of the population was connected to this. The economic boom of the Irish whiskeys ended in the early 1840s and the Distillery Kilbeggan was in a bad state financially.

The Locke family arrived in the 1840s after Kilbeggan. John Locke had experiences in the towns of Tullamore and Monasterevin collected and bought the distillery in 1843 Kilbeggan by the family from Codd. By 1870, the distillery more than ever, and began a major expansion of the distillery produced. At the same time, there was a significant increase in the exports of Irish whiskey to the UK market. Between 1860 and 1900, the exports of Irish whiskey to England increased from 1 million gallons to more than 8 million gallons per year. During this time there have been significant changes in the whiskey distillation technology in Ireland and increasingly in Scotland by introducing the patent or Coffey distillation unit when burning. With this distillery could produce far more whiskey than using the traditional pot still method. However, there was no place in Kilbeggan for the new technology, so the distillery of Locke retained its original technique. The traditional pot still distillation, which had been passed down from generation to generation, have been maintained. However, this traditional view did not pay, as did sell better by far, the new cheap whiskey competition. From 1890 to 1910, the turnover decreased rapidly. In 1910, the production of the distillery in Kilbeggan was on the same level as the end of 1860. To increase sales, the Locke's new sales sources began to look abroad. They went a business relationship with a broker in New York and expanded their business to England.

Despite the economic problems of Irish Whiskey 1900 was the leading strong alcoholic drink in the UK. Large quantities were exported to the West Indies and on the U.S. market. It is believed that accounted 1919-1933 75% of the electricity consumed in the U.S. whiskeys on Irish whiskey. It took three major setbacks to break the success of the Irish whiskey industry: the Irish War of Independence, the U.S. Prohibition and the introduction of Scotch blended whiskey. The Irish War of Independence began in 1916 and lasted until independence in 1921. Shortly after independence, a trade war with England, in which the access of Irish whiskey to the lucrative markets in Great Britain and its empire was inhibited developed. At the same time the introduction of Prohibition in the United States took place in 1920. This experiment lasted until 1933, a period in which the Irish whiskey industry was mortally wounded. When Prohibition was repealed, the damaged Irish whiskey industry could not meet the demand of the resurgent U.S. market. The Scottish whiskey industry could easily meet with the simpler manufacturing process, the increasing demand with their new blended whiskey. Against such a predicament fought the family Locke. At that time, John Locke's daughters Florence Eccles and Mary Hope Johnston, the directors and major shareholders. Despite their efforts, the distillery had set and the distillery Kilbeggan then finally closed in 1957, in 1954.

Following the closure

The sinking of the Distillery Kilbeggan reflected the general decimation of the Irish whiskey industry. By 1966, the number of active distilleries in Ireland had dropped to four. As distillers Jameson, Powers and Cork merged the company Irish Distillers, there were only two distilleries. In the early 1970s, Bushmills joined the group, so it was only one distillery. Such a monopoly did little to develop the Irish whiskey. The creation of Cooley Distillery in 1987 brought a much-needed competition back into the market. Cooley Distillery was the brainchild of John Teeling and the first new whiskey distillery in Ireland for over 100 years. The first step was to acquire a manufacturing plant on the Cooley Peninsula. This was followed by the acquisition of some of the famous brands of the old Irish whiskey history. Kilbeggan Distillery and its brands were bought in 1988 with the vision to use the old halls, to mature whiskey, and to help the distillery and its brands to their former glory. Since the 1970s the distillery in Kilbeggan was maintained by a handful of people who had kept both the local distillery licenses as well as most of the old distillery equipment. Following the sale of Irish Distillers to the French company Pernod Ricard, and the subsequent sale of Bushmills to the British company Diageo, the Cooley Whiskey Distillery is the only remaining Irish-owned.

Cooley has the halls used in the Distillery Kilbeggan, to mature whiskey. While the Distillery Kilbeggan, last used by the Locke family, has been preserved and in Locke 's Distillery Museum can be seen on site, there was a further significant step in the Distillery Kilbeggan in 2007. For 250 Years' Jubilee steps have been taken to the distillation resume. An old pot still that was used most recently in the 19th century, has been carefully restored and fired on 19 March 2007, 54 years after the day on which the distillation was discontinued at that time. The distillery currently produces up to 250,000 bottles of whiskey per year, which mature in the adjacent granite halls. Thus, this is the oldest pot still, still working in Ireland and revived a traditional style of distillation in Ireland.