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Today Sliabh
Liag Distillers turned the sod on their
new Distillery site in Ardara marking
the first phase of construction of their
new distillery.
Work on the Ardara Distillery got
underway today as
Donegal’s Sliabh Liag Distillers ‘turned the sod’ on their new Distillery
site in Ardara – marking the first phase
of construction of their new distillery.
Members of The Ardara Town Traders’
Association gathered in the Showfield
today with the founders of Sliabh Liag
Distillery to turn the sod on the site
of the new Ardara distillery, which will
open in 2021. The turning of the sod
culminates in a busy period for the
Donegal distillery, which over the last
two weeks has raised €1.5 million via
crowdfunding to fuel the next phase of
its expansion.
James Doherty, who founded the
distillery with his wife Moira, said,
that following the huge response to the
investment raise, plans for construction
are full steam ahead: "We’ve been a
little overwhelmed by the response to
our crowdfund with over 800 new
investors becoming part of the Sliabh
Liag Distillers’ family in the past two
weeks. Our funding took yet another
giant leap forward this week with the
announcement that three of our existing
shareholders have committed an
additional quarter of a million euros to
the business; seeing existing investors
of such industry standing confidently
expand their stake in our company is a
fantastic endorsement of what we are
aiming to achieve by reclaiming
Donegal’s distilling heritage."
Moira Doherty, co-founder, went on to
say: "It feels like this day has been a
long time coming and we wouldn’t have
got here without the support of our
architects, Gavin and Michael of Corner
Stone Associates, Hugh Gavigan for the
land and the enthusiastic welcome of the
Ardara community. So, we say a big thank
you to all our supporters near and far
for helping us get to this momentous
point."
Demand for the distillery’s brands is
gathering international momentum, says
James: "Over the past week, we’ve taken
a raft of new orders from existing
customers for products across our range.
Russia, Finland and Germany have
submitted orders with Italy and
Australia expected this week – Dark
Silkie and An Dúlamán are proving
particularly popular and make up 90% of
the volumes ordered. Production at our
Carrick Distillery has stepped up
another gear and the bottling line is
busier than ever."
Stephen McCahill is Chairperson of the
Ardara Town Traders’ Association and he
says the community in Ardara is
delighted that Sliabh Liag Distillers
has begun construction of its new
distillery: "This is an exciting day for
the town and we look forward to
supporting founders, James and Moira
Doherty, as they seek to reclaim the
distilling heritage of Donegal and make
the Sliabh Liag peninsula to Irish
whiskey what Islay is to Scotch. James
tells me his grandfathers were poitín
men, so it’s in his DNA, but his and
Moira’s passion for sharing Donegal’s
distilling heritage with the rest of the
world has driven this project forward
time and again! Sliabh Liag Distillers’
new state of the art facility will offer
an industry-leading visitor experience
to sit alongside all that Ardara town
has to offer on Donegal’s Wild Atlantic
Way, placing Ardara at the centre of
Donegal and Ireland’s growing and
vibrant whiskey tourism scene."
Gavin Shovelin one of the architects
said: "this is an iconic project for
Donegal and to be able to design these
buildings for my hometown is really
special. We have designed the still
house to be modern, practical and
sympathetic to the area reflecting the
vision Moira and James had and I am
looking forward to the benefits that
this project will bring to our local
community."
In August, Sliabh Liag Distillers
reclaimed Donegal’s whiskey heritage
with the first legal distillation of
whiskey in nearly 200 years. The company
also bridged the Atlantic and 200 years
of history with the arrival of its
spirits in the United States last month,
marking the first time in almost 200
years that a batch of spirits from
Donegal was dispatched to the United
States.
While you are waiting for the first
legally produced Donegal single
malt since 1841 to come of age you will
find an extensive range of Irish whiskey available from specialist online whisky
retailers such as
The Whisky Exchange,
The Whisky Shop and
Master of Malt
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