Not long after Seamus O’Hara started to re-establish craft brewing in Carlow, neighbours Bernard and Rosemary Walsh’s vision for distilling saw them set up Walsh Whiskey (www.walshwhiskey.com) in 1999.
Thanks to their hard work in building up successful brands like The Irishman and Writer’s Tears, in partnership with Irish Distillers, their new distillery on the old Holloden estate at Royal Oak (complete with restored Georgian house and grounds) is now one of Ireland’s largest distilleries with both pot and column stills producing all three types of Irish whiskey – pot still, malt and grain - all made wth local Irish barley.
There’s a visitor centre too, offering a Whiskey Academy, whiskey tours and shop. After a gap of over 200 years, a new era in Carlow distilling has begun.
