Tullamore D.E.W. Visitor Centre
The Tullamore Heritage Centre was reopened on September 8th, 2012 after renovations were completed and was renamed Tullamore D.E.W. Visitor Centre.
Latest news: William Grant & Sons Ltd., announced on March 28th, 2012 it will invest in a new pot still whiskey and malt whiskey distillery in Tullamore, bringing whiskey production back to the town for the first time since the original distillery closed in 1954.
Offaly Council gave green light for the planners on December 18th, 2012. the new Tullamore distillery will be built at Ballard and Clonminch in Tullamore‘s north. The development will start in April 2013 and production will begin in 2014. There will also be a new visitor centre with a restaurant.
See official briefing document of the proposed distillery:
http://www.offaly.ie/eng/Services/Your_Councils/News/Welcome_home,_Tullamore_Dew.html
The distillery was founded by Michael Molloy or Mulloy in 1828. Alfred Barnard visited the distillery in 1886:
„The Whisky made is of the same class and make as manufactured by the noted Dublin houses, and it is not only sold and appreciated in the district, but is supplied in large quantities to England and the colonies...
The farmers deliver the corn to the Granaries, of which there are eight, capable of holding 60,000 barrels of grain. One of the stores has three lofts, each being 120 feet square, and capable of holding 10,000 barrels of corn. After being run through the self-acting cleaning machines, the grain is sent by elevators into four Kilns, each with open roof, and floored with patent wire flooring. These Kilns are capable of drying 1,000 barrels in each per week. The Dry Corn Lofts are attached to the Kilns...In the Back House there are ten Washbacks, each with a capacity of 16,000 gallons, and in the yard which commands the Stills, a Wash Charger, a fine metal vessel, holding 17,000 gallons. Built on stone pillars, over the river, are to be seen, three Worm Tubs, very handsome vessels.
The Still House is a fine open building, containing four old Pot Stills (there are no others on the premises). The following is their capacity:
Two Wash Stills, each holding . . 16,000 gallons. A Low Wines Still holding. 5,500 gallons Spirit Still holding 10,500 gallons...The Spirit Store is adjoining, and contains a Vat, holding 8,000 gallons, where the Whisky is reduced to 25 o.p., casked, branded, and delivered into the Warehouses, of which there are eleven large buildings, covering nearly five acres of ground, and containing at the time of our visit 900,000 gallons of Whisky, of various ages, principally in butts and hogsheads.“
The Whisky Distilleries of the United Kingdom, p. 388.
A full and very detailed account of the distillery and the remaining buildings is to be found in the Offaly Heritage Document:
http://www.offaly.ie/eng/Services/Heritage/Documents/offaly_mills_part_2_p203_-_p269.pdf
See also Alfred Barnard‘s full report:
http://www.offalyhistory.com/authors/67/Alfred-Barnard?Page=3
See also about the distilling history in Offaly
http://www.offalyhistory.com/articles/270/1/The-Williams-Family-and-Tullamore-Distillery/Page1.html
The name D.E.W. derived from the initials of Daniel Edmond Williams who was general manager of the distillery in 1887 and who introduced the label Tullamore Dew.
Distilling stopped in 1954 but there were stocks left for the Irish Mist Liqueur Co. Ltd to continue production of Irish mist. The Label Tullamore Dew was sold to the Irish Distillers. Cantrell & Cochrane aquired the Irish Mist label in 1985 and the Tullamore Dew label in 1994.
Most of the distillery was demolished in 1995 to give place for the Bridge Shopping Centre in Tullamore. The independent Scottish distiller William Grant and Sons Ltd. - owner Glenfiddich and Balvenie Distilleries - bought the brand Tullamore Dew for 300 mio. Euros from the C&C Group in 2010. Rumours to built a new Tullamore Distillery in Co. Offaly came true in March 2012, when the Scottish Distillers from Dufftown declared in March 2012 to build a new Tullamore Distillery and that the first whiskey spirit would run in 2014.
Tullamore is at the moment one of the fastest growing Irish whiskey brands. It is either produced at Midleton Distilleries, Co. Cork and at Cooley, Co. Louth. Tullamore Dew Marketing Director Maurice Doyle says: „Tullamore Dew is a huge success story selling over eight and a half million bottles world wide, that is eight and a half million occasions when Tullamore is on the map.“
Tullamore Dew, which is currently growing by more than 15 per cent a year, by almost doubling worldwide sales to just under 700,000 cases since 2005. In Germany it is the No. 1 among the Irish whiskeys with a market share of 65.3%. The distributor will change from Beam to Campari from July 2012 onwards.
The Tullamore D.E.W. Visitor Centre attracts about 40.000 visitors each year.
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