Review: The Pearse Lyons Whiskey Distillery in Dublin
The Legacy Tour & Tasting
I heard that whiskey was being distilled on a church altar in Dublin. This I had to see, so one sunny Friday afternoon, I went to church!
The Liberties Golden Triangle
The Pearse Lyons Distillery is in the Dublin Liberties. Sandwiched between different parts of the Guinness Brewery.
The Liberties was once part of Dublin's "Golden Triangle" of whiskey production, where famous brands like Jameson and Powers were once made.
During the Irish War of Independence, there was a boycott of Irish whiskey, and cheaper production in Scotland affected the industry, though Irish whiskey was always considered superior. Naturally.
Today, there are four distilleries in the area. Jameson and Roe & Co are owned by multinational giants. But Pearse Lyons is an Irish family owned distillery, so yay for the little guy. Even if this family's main business employs 6,000 people!
The Tour
The distilling takes place in a church, but there is a modern building next to it which is the starting point of the tour. Here you are checked in and brought into a room for a short movie explaining the story of the company and the distillery.
What I really liked was on the way in, we were given a tasting of whiskey. No waiting until the end, we were straight into the good stuff. All movies should offer whiskey, much better than popcorn.
Most of my fellow guests were German and the guide put German subtitles on.
Pearse Lyons Family History
Mr Lyons himself narrated the movie, although he has sadly passed away since. But he was scientist who moved to the US, applied his whiskey knowledge in agriculture. Did quite well for himself. Set up a brewery & distillery in Kentucky. And then opened the distillery in Dublin.
The Graveyard
After the movie we were led out to the church graveyard. It is just 2 acres in size, but they reckon 100,000 people are buried here. Layered on top of each other from the 16th century.
What I really liked about the tour was the amount of history that I learned. Sometimes you go to distillery tours and it's like a chemistry lesson. This was a Dublin tour with whiskey.
The Church
The current church was built in 1861 but then closed in the 1960s. The family bought it on 2012 and thanks to our lovely planning laws that we have here in Dublin, it took 5 years to restore. They made a brave decision to make rebuild the spire from glass and even Dublin City couldn't disagree with that.
What an absolutely gorgeous building. Inside and outside. As soon as you walk into the church, you can't stop looking around at the church itself and the beautiful shiny vats on the altar.
The Distillery
The distillery uses traditional pot stills that were made in Kentucky. Installing them in the church required removing the roof and lifting them in. I wish I'd seen that happening.
The vats at the distillery are named after family members, including "Little Lizzie" and the other "Mighty Molly" after Margaret, who was the first female copper in Europe.
Their whiskeys are typically aged in ex-bourbon casks from Kentucky made of American white oak.
The distillery even grows their own grain in Dunboyne & leftover grain from the production process is fed to pigs on their farm. Happy pigs!
Whiskey Tastings
It was time for the tasting. You can choose from these experiences.
We had the Legacy Experience and tasted five different drinks:
- Pearse Original: Aged 5 years in bourbon barrels that previously held stout.
- Pearse Original: A blend of 1/3 malted barley and 2/3 corn, aged 7 years in bourbon and sherry casks.
- Ha'penny Four Cask: An experimental whiskey aged 10 years across 4 different cask types - bourbon, recharred bourbon, ruby port, and sherry.
- Founders Choice: A single malt (100% malted barley) aged 12 years exclusively in ex-bourbon casks
- Ha'penny Rhubarb Gin: This gin was produced for the 200 year anniversary of Dublin's Halfpenny Bridge and uses cold pressed rhubarb juice, and other ingredients from Dublin
Tasting Notes
Let me first say that I am not a whiskey expert. I've tasted my fair share in my day, but I'm not pretend that I get notes of this or that.
I'm a simple man with simple tastes. But I can this was good whiskey. Each of them and they definitely increased in flavor as we went down the list. The Founders Choice was my favorite but that Four Cask would happily find a place on my liquor shelf too.
A word about the gin. As a young distillery, they produced gin while waiting for their whiskey to age. We tasted straight gin. I've never had rhubarb gin before. It was like juice. Dangerously tasty on its own. I could drink it in the morning. Not that I do that.
Trilogy or Legacy?
Which experience should you pick? Well, there were 24 people on our tour. 18 chose the Legacy, while six people chose the Trilogy.
I left a little bad for the Trilogy folks who had to watch us drink the last two without them. So I would suggest going for the Legacy just to avoid this awkwardness. Plus the last two were the most expensive and best.
Tour Value
The Founders Choice is an €85 bottle. The Four Cask is a €48 bottle. This wasn't cheap stuff we were drinking. The Legacy Tour cost €32 for an hour long tour, one tasting with the film and five tastings of premium whiskey is very good value.
The Guide
I really regret not getting the guide's name but he was super passionate. This wasn't a bored guide doing his 5th tour of the day. He knew so much about the distillation process. My friend is into this and drilled him with questions. He answered happily and easily.
Final Thoughts
I left very impressed with everything. The building, the care that went into the restoration, the ethos of growing their own grain, the tour itself, the research and the history I learned.
I would definitely recommend a visit to the Irish owned Pearse Lyons Distillery. It's unique in being in a church, being Irish owned and being family owned. Plus the whiskey is delicious.
