CITY TRIBUNE
Distillery reignites passion for ancient art in the heart of Galway
A new craft experience has arrived in the heart of Galway – inspired by its history as the centre of quality whiskey over two centuries ago.
The Galway City Distillery is inviting customers to learn how to brew their own spirits to take home and create their personal signature drinks by adding all manner of local botanicals.
Based in the art deco former Tribeton building on Merchants Road, there will be a bar, café, brewing school as well as a brewery where customers can watch as their favourite tipple is created from scratch from a shiny new 150-litre German hybrid still.
The brainchild of Dubliner Jim Flynn, he felt there was a big gap in the market for a distillery in the heart of the Wild Atlantic Way where high-quality food has become a real selling point.
“If you Google the top things to do in Galway, the top eight are all outdoors, yet it rains 221 days a year. There is a fantastic museum, the food offering is excellent with the Michelin-starred restaurants who all excel at offering local food, local suppliers. I felt nobody had done that with drink,” reveals Jim. 
“My background is working with small independent craft producers. And then I learned about the story of Burton Persse and how his whiskey was the whiskey of choice in the British House of Commons and Harrods and all from his distillery in the heart of the city.”
Sitting in a dusty room as builders hurry about a week before opening, he points out all the features that will make this a unique Galway experience.
In one room are the alembic pots – or mini-stills – where students will distil their own blend of spirits overheat, with flavours and tinctures added based on personal taste. Classes costing €100 will last up to three hours while the intricacies of brewing are delved into. This includes drinks, food and a personal recipe bottle.
“It’s all about taste and flavour. We’re encouraging people to try new things using sensorial analysis – how you layer flavours into something you’d like to drink.”
The day of the Galway City Tribune’s visit is the first time master British distiller Jamie Baxter is distilling gin on Merchants Road. For this batch he has placed ethanol, juniper berries, coriander seeds, angelica root, orange peel and liquorice inside. After it boils, it turns into a vapour which rises. An oil is created which carries the flavour. This is then passed through a condenser to create 85% alcohol, which in turn is watered down to bring it to a normal strength spirit.
In another part of the ground floor there will be a café serving coffee blended in Oughterard and pastries baked in The Twelve in Barna.
In the bar, customers will be encouraged to try cocktails changed seasonally according to the lunar calendar. Alcohol-free cocktails will also be on the menu.
Involved in creating these concoctions will be Claire Davey, whose America Village Apothecary Tasting Room on Dominick Street boasted signature drinks such as The Gather Forth with white port, tonic and rosemary and The Communion featuring vermouth with smoked spruce.
Before it closed during the lockdowns, the McKenna Guide described it: “People, we are a long way from the pint of plain here. We are in deep space, drinks-wise, we are off with the aliens, and it’s exhilarating. Do not miss it: there is nowhere even remotely like it.”
Locally-produced beer such as Galway Hooker and Pale Ale Galway will be on sale, rather than pints from the big brands. This is a throwback to Jim’s involvement for ten years with the Porterhouse in Dublin, one of the first craft brewers and distillers in Ireland. He has also worked with bars and breweries in the UK as a project manager.
“I’ve got involved here with investors who want to stay in the background. They knew I had a background in hospitality and they were looking to get involved in a really exciting project along the lines of Midleton in Cork and Jameson in Dublin and the best location for that is in a top tourist spot.”
Their company, the Galway Spirits Company, has bought the building from developer Gerry Barrett. There are plans to celebrate the history of Persse’s Whiskey on the top floor, which is scheduled to open in the summer.
That whiskey returned to the headlines when one of the last remaining bottles of the ‘uisce beatha’ sold to an Irish collector for over €100,000 at an auction in Glasgow.
The Nuns Island distillery thrived for more than 60 years, creating 10,000 gallons per week and employing over 100 people at the height of its success before closing down in 1908.
Classes and tables can be booked online at GalwayCityDistillery.ie
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
The new Salmon Weir pedestrian and cycle bridge will be officially opened to the public next Friday, May 26.
Work on the €10 million bridge got underway in April 2022, before the main structure was hoisted into place in early December.
A lunchtime tape-cutting ceremony will take place on Friday, as the first pedestrians and cyclists traverse the as-yet-unnamed bridge.
The Chief Executive of Galway City Council, Brendan McGrath, previously said the bridge, once opened, would remove existing conflicts between pedestrians, cyclists and traffic “as well as facilitating the Cross-City Link public transport corridor over the existing 200-year-old bridge”.
The naming of the new bridge has been under discussion by the Council’s Civic Commemorations Committee since late last year.
One name that has been in the mix for some time is that of the first woman in Europe to graduate with an engineering degree – Alice Perry.
Ms Perry, who was from Wellpark, graduated from Queen’s College Galway (now University of Galway) in 1906. The university’s engineering building is named in her honour.
The bridge was built by Jons Civil Engineering firm in County Meath and was assembled off-site before being transported to Galway. Funding for the project was provided in full by the National Transport Authority and the European Regional Development Fund.
(Photo: Sheila Gallagher captured the city’s new pedestrian footbridge being raised on the south side of the Salmon Weir Bridge in December. It will officially open next Friday, May 26).
From the Galway City Tribune – Minister of State for Local Government and Planning, Kieran O’Donnell was labelled a “disgrace” for overturning councillors’ decisions to rezone land in the new City Development Plan.
Minister O’Donnell (pictured) confirmed in a letter to Council Chief Executive Brendan McGrath last week that he was reversing 25 material alternations made by councillors to the CDP 2023-29. He made the decision on the advice of Office of Planning Regulator (OPR).
Minister O’Donnell directed that 14 land parcels that were subject to land-use zoning changes by councillors as part of the Material Alterations to the Draft CDP should be reversed.
He directed that a further 11 land parcels in the city should become “unzoned”.
The Minister found that the CDP had not been made in a manner consistent with recommendations of the OPR, which required specific changes to the plan to ensure consistency with the national planning laws and guidelines.
At last week’s Council meeting Cllr Eddie Hoare (FG) asked for clarity on the process by which councillors could rezone the lands that had been changed by the Minister’s direction.
Cllr Declan McDonnell said, “What he [Minister O’Donnell] has done is an absolute disgrace”.
And he asked: “Do we have to have another development plan meeting to deal with it?”
Both Cllrs Hoare and McDonnell wondered what would become of the lands that were rezoned or unzoned by the ministerial direction.
Mr McGrath said the Council had put forward an argument in favour of retaining the material alterations in the plan, but ultimately the Minister sided with OPR.
He said if councillors want to make alterations to the new plan, they could go through the process of making a material alteration but this was lengthy.
The Save Roscam Peninsula campaign welcomed the Minister’s decision.
In a statement to the Galway City Tribune, it said the direction would mean the Roscam village area on the Roscam Peninsula will be unzoned and a number of land parcels would revert back to agriculture/high amenity.
A spokesperson for the campaign said: “the material alterations made by city councillors following lobbying by developers continued the long-standing practice of councillors facilitating a developer-led plan rather than an evidence- and policy-based plan that meets the needs of the city.
“The Minister’s direction is an important step in restoring confidence in the planning system. It is clear from the City Council’s own evidence on future housing projections that there was no requirement to zone these lands for residential purposes in order to meet the needs of the targeted population increase up to 2029,” the spokesperson added.
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