Poitín makers Micil distil the first Galway whiskey in over 100 years

Two Galway brothers are setting up Galway’s first Irish whiskey in over a century – six generations and almost two centuries on from their great-great-great grandfather distilling poitín on a hillside in South Connemara.
Micil Distillery’s Pádraic and Jimín Ó Griallais are following a family tradition going back over 170 years – in the footsteps of Micil Mac Chearra – with the announcement that, while their own whiskey matures, they will release two initial independently bottled Irish whiskeys this summer.
It’s a major expansion for Micil, already renowned for their poitín and gin, which will also create new jobs within their team in Galway.
“I founded Micil Distillery in 2016 in honour of my great, great, great grandfather Micil, with the dream of being the first in my family to distil legally,” said Pádraic.
“The success of Micil Irish Poitín, Micil Heritage Peated Poitín, and the multi-award-winning Micil Irish Gin has enabled us to move into the next phase of our growth plan and begin laying down Irish whiskey.
“In January 2021 we filled our first casks with the new make spirit which will be Galway’s first Irish whiskey in over a century.
“Our family has over 170 years of craft distillation knowhow, the longest continuous family distillation heritage in Ireland, and it brings us tremendous pride to be building on this legacy by bringing Irish whiskey back to Galway,” he added.
They believe that their production capacity is perhaps the smallest of any whiskey distillery in Ireland.
“With our small single copper pot still, we can only produce a maximum of one standard 200 litre cask per week, compared with the approximately 30 casks per week produced by some of the better known ‘small’ Irish distilleries and the thousands of casks a week produced by the likes of Jameson and Bushmills,” said Pádraic.
“Our production methods are painstakingly slow, and we do everything by hand with no automation. Our focus is purely on distilling spirits of exceptional flavour and quality, not on yields or profit margins,” he added.
Their first runs have been peated single malts, using 100% Irish barley, malted using Connemara turf from their own family farm in Inverin.
And while their own Galway whiskey matures for the legal minimum of three years, Micil plan to release two independently bottled Irish whiskeys this summer.
“In an industry with its fair share of smoke and mirrors, it was imperative to us that we were distilling our own Irish whiskey here in Galway before releasing a product that we haven’t distilled ourselves, though we’re obviously finishing it in our own casks,” said head distiller Jimín.
“Three years is a long wait, and in the meantime we wanted to give people a small taste of what’s to come. The important thing is to be transparent about things like this, and that’s where we’ve seen other spirits companies fall short. It means a lot to us, we’re first and foremost distillers after all. It’s in our DNA,” he added.
Their product expansion will also see an increase in staff numbers, according to Pádraic.
“To date it’s been a core of just myself, my brother Jimín and my co-founder Ross, and it’s been hard going for us at times with lots of long days and sleepless nights, in an industry dominated by huge multinationals with limitless funds,” he said.
“But we recently hired Mark McLaughlin, one of Irish whiskey’s leading brand specialists, and are currently in the process of recruiting a global sales manager for the business as well. These new additions to our team will provide valuable skills and experience as we grow, and further our ability to achieve our goals,” he added.