‘I have been tasting our new whiskey during the week. It’s absolutely wonderful already’

Boann Distillery, in Lagavooren, Drogheda, was set up (in an old car showroom) by the Cooney family in 2019. The family will be well known to many in the drinks trade as suppliers of mineral water, wine and other drinks for many years.

Working with the whiskey historian Fionnán O’Connor, they re-created a series of spirits based on old mashbill recipes (the ingredients used to make whiskey) from the 19th and 20th century. I will return to this fascinating project, but in the meantime Boann has found a use for one. “We distilled most of the variations,” Peter Cooney tells me. “They all taste very different. We now design mashbills that we think will work best with the casks we are working with.”

Recently the distillery bought 70 100-year-old oloroso casks, ranging in size from 500 to 600 litres, from a family cooperage in Andalusia. These have been filled with a spirit made from a mashbill used by Allmans Distillery, in Bandon in Co Cork, 100 years ago.

“It is a combination of 40 per cent raw barley, 30 per cent malted barley, 15 per cent oats, 10 per cent wheat and 5 per cent rye. The wheat gives a savoury breadiness which we thought would work quite well with rich deep flavours from the casks. I have been tasting it during the week. It’s absolutely wonderful already.”

Continuing the sherry theme, Boann will release a 16-year-old palo-cortado finish later this year and a 17-year-old amontillado in 2023.

Sadly, you won’t be able to taste the whiskey until it reaches maturity, in another 10-20 years. Boann has already sold 10 casks to various drinks companies and plans to bottle and sell the remaining 58 after maturation.