Slane

Just 7 kilometers to the West from Newgrange, on the same side of Boinne river, there is a beautiful castle. It has been the family seat of the Conyngham family since it was built in the late 18th century, on land first purchased in 1703 by Brig.-Gen. Henry Conyngham, after it was confiscated from the Flemings, Anglo-Norman Catholics who had aligned themselves with the Jacobites in the War of the Grand Alliance, and thus after the Williamite victory lost their property.

Obviously every castle has its stable.

With my great ancestor monument I feel here like at home.

But since there are less horses now than earlier, part of the stables were converted in the Slane Irish Whiskey Distillery.

Ladies, gentlemen, horses, let's go inside and see how something better than Guiness is created.

On the picture below you can see the first stage of the process - the barley malting.

To start the process you need the best barley, like the one growing on the castle fields just around.

After harvesting we need to collect all the grain.

Add the water and wait a bit.

After pouring out the water ...

we will see the rootlets meaning the seeds started to produce sugar.

Now we can start "kilning" which means drying in a special oven.

Next stage is milling, that allows to separate external part of seeds from its content that we need to use in further process.

Here comes the mill.

And its output.

Unfortunately taking photos is forbidden in the places where next stages of the process happens, so you can only analyze the below scheme to understand the brewing, fermentation and distillation. The product of all the stages on the scheme is the spirit consisting in over 90% of alcohol, so way too strong to be drunk.

You can just admire the distillery from outside.The metal pipes are used to cool down the alcohol during the destillation.

Up to this stage, the manufacturing process for vodka and whiskey is in fact very similar, maybe except that vodka is rather not produced from barley. But what make the great difference in the flavor is what happens further and is called casking.

Casking means allowing the whiskey to spend time in casks (which means barrels). Irish whisky requires at least 3 years and one day to be certified, one day more than Scottish.

What makes Slane Whiskey special is that it is triple casked, what means the whiskey spends time in 3 types of barrels: Virgin (not used previously) and Seasoned casks raised by hand at the venerated Brown-Forman Cooperages, and Oloroso sherry casks by way of Jerez in Spain.

Once the liquid has been aged to perfection, it is masterfully blended to create an exceptional Irish whiskey. Virgin casks contribute flavours of toasted Oak and vanilla. Seasoned barrels of Tennessee whiskey and Bourbon contributes flavours of caramel, plum, banana and butterscotch. Sherry casks contribute flavours of raisin and spice.

Let's now sit and try it.

Have you noticed the colour of a warm, golden topaz with hues of rich toffee ? If you smell it you will find a complex fruit aroma with drizzles of caramel, butterscotch, vanilla, brown spice and toasted oak. When you take your first sip, you will first find it spicy, but quickly sweetened with rich caramel, vanilla and butterscotch atop a deep layer of dried fruit. Even after you leave the bar you will still find the lingering hints of dry fruit and caramelised wood sugar.

Now the biggest challenge, try to go straight through the gate :)