June 2019 – Dublin Liberty Distillery

We were delighted to host the Dublin Liberties Distillery at Davy Macs Pub for our June tasting. Geoff Speiran and Alan Callinan paid us a visit to talk us through their Liberties Collection. Although the distillery only officially opened in recent months, they have been collecting some fine and old whiskeys to use in their premium Liberties range. Their master distiller Darryl McNally has produced some truly interesting whiskeys. The Distillery is named after the area in Dublin known as the Liberties which grew beyond Dublin’s old city walls, beyond those ruling at the time, free from constraints. The distillery has carried on this philosophy – a bit stubborn with a touch of rebellion and a lot of heart.

Geoff began by introducing us to each of the four Liberties Whiskeys while telling us the story behind the name. We began with the 5-year-old Oak Devil, the name taken from the carved Oak Devil that stood guard over the arched entrance to the Liberties otherwise known as Hell. Next Geoff took us through tasting their 10-year-old Copper Alley matured in ex-bourbon barrels and finished in fine 30-year-old Oloroso sherry barrels for around 6 months. It is named after a street just beside Christ Church Cathedral that hosted the dregs and upper echelons of society in their taverns and bordellos. We then moved onto Murder Lane, a truly exceptional 13-year-old tripled-distilled single malt whiskey, matured in bourbon casks and finished in Hungarian Tokaj casks. It gets its name from an unmarked alley between Bow Street & James Street in Dublin. In the early 1600’s many men, women and children met an unpleasant fate on that lane in the Liberties that held the 40 steps.

Geoff then led us through the tasting of their 16-year-old Keepers Coin, matured in ex-Bourbon barrels before being finished in Pedro-Ximenez Sherry casks. Named after a series of crypts underneath the Christ Church cathedral which were known for being drinking dens. They had cellar keepers which had their own casks and coins, hence the Keeper’s Coin.

And finally, as a special tasting Geoff and Alan brought some of their newmake straight from the distillery that morning for us to taste – very distinct floral notes and a promise of great things to come from The Dublin Liberties Distillery.

The clear winner of the night seemed to be the 13-year-old Murder Lane. We thoroughly enjoyed the tasting of 4 fine whiskeys along with the story telling of the evening and thanks Geoff and Alan for visiting us. Alan from Davy Macs very kindly finished off a great evening with some fabulous finger food where we as always felt at home and welcome.