History

West Cork Distillers was founded in 2003 by childhood friends John O’Connell, Denis McCarthy and Ger McCarthy and started in a room behind Denis's house in Union Hall with two small stills. In 2014 they moved to a new distillery in Skibbereen. In 2020 the new distillery on Marsh Road opened, which made West Cork Distillers the largest, fully Irish-owned distillery in the country. The company is based in West Cork and employs over 140 staff. The distillery has the capacity to produce around 16.5 million litres of pure alcohol per year and is bottled on site. West Cork also produces gin and vodka under its own brands.\n\n## Production / Manufacturing

Distillation

16 pot stills and 3 column stills produce approximately 16.5 million litres of pure alcohol annually. In addition, two further stills are dedicated to gin.\n### Bottling Different figures are given on the pages: 5 bottling lines (24 hours/day, 6 days/week) processing 2,000 bottles per hour, and there are also references to 8 bottling lines (24/7) processing 9,000 bottles per hour depending on the source.\n### Storage There are mentions of both 7 warehouses up to 55,000 casks and 12 warehouses up to 200,000 casks, depending on the source in the material.\n\n## Products / Whisky Series

West Cork Irish Whiskey

West Cork Irish Whiskey is distilled, matured and bottled on-site and sold in over 70 countries worldwide. The bottling is triple-distilled and non-chill-filtered and made with local ingredients.\n### 5 Year Old Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey 43% ABV. Aged in First Fill Bourbon Casks. Mash ratio 66:33 malted vs unmalted barley. The distillation process takes place in a pot still.\n### Single Malt Irish Whiskey 40% ABV. 100% malted barley; distilled in pot stills and aged at least three years in bourbon casks. Tasting notes include malt, sweetness/vanilla and citrus.\n### Garnish Island Gin Garnish Island Gin is a handcrafted small-batch gin inspired by the garden area around Garnish Island. It is distilled in a copper pot still and uses local botanicals such as hibiscus, iris, rose, rosemary and thyme. Taste: smooth with herbal and citrus notes.\n### Two Trees Vodka Triple-distilled and double-charcoal-filtered vodka made from wheat. 37.5% ABV. Taste: sweetness, citrus and nutmeg. Aroma: clean and a hint of pepper.\n\n## Visits / Experiences West Cork Distillers has an Irish Whiskey Cask Club based on community and fairness. The club has historically had existing members and is not open to new members at the moment.\n\n## Philosophy Our mission is to make Irish whiskey available worldwide while maintaining our Irish ownership and West Cork heritage. The values are Unconventional, Belief, Responsibility and Respect. West Cork describes itself as a place built and run by people for the benefit of the people, and the company focuses on sustainable employment and local support.