Kilbeggan from 1990s - John Locke and Co label (70cl, 40%)
An Irish blend from Cooley distillery, matured for three years and bottled under the historic Kilbeggan banner.
The Old Kilbeggan Distillery in the village of Kilbeggan, was originally known as the Brusna Distillery (after the river which flowed through the distillery and powered the water wheel) and more recently Locke's Distillery.
Locke’s Distillery was built in 1757 using materials from an old Cistercian monastery and is the oldest licensed distillery in the world. Production at Locks distillery ceased in 1954.
The assets of the old Locke’s distillery where acquired by Cooley Distillery in 1988, originally to store ageing casks and on 17-July 1992, the first mature cask of Locke’s whiskey produced by Cooley was tapped by the granddaughter of the last John Locke.
Cooley resumed production of whiskey at Kilbeggan on 19-March 2007, 53 years to the day since production stopped at the distillery.
Cooley distillery was opened in 1987 after it was converted from a potato alcohol plant by John Teeling. It now operates two pot and three column stills, generally double distilling as opposed the more familiar triple distillation that most Irish producers favour. It was bought by Beam Inc. in 2011, with its former owners now operating the Teeling distillery in Dublin. Cooley's core range includes the Kilbeggan blends and a peated and unpeated single malt, called Connemara and Tyrconnell, respectively.