Lockes Distillery in Kilbeggan is expecting to welcome its one millionth visitor within the next two weeks, and to mark this will host an open day next Saturday September 10, from noon to 6pm.
The open day will include free tours of the 254-year-old distillery, whiskey master classes, artisan food, live music from the Whiskey River Band as well as face painting and balloon sculptors for the kids.
A cask of Kilbeggan Irish whiskey will be laid down for the landmark visitor, and after three years when the spirit has matured into fine Irish whiskey, Cooley will bottle the cask for the lucky recipient.
The Kilbeggan distillery has been located on the same spot in Kilbeggan town since 1757, and is fast becoming one of the top tourist destinations in the Midlands. Investment in the distillery tour in recent years by the parent company, the Cooley Distillery in Co Louth, has brought the Kilbeggan distillery experience to life.
The Kilbeggan experience sends visitors back in time to map the methods and techniques of whiskey making from the 1700s right through to the 21st century.
Visitors can witness the fully restored piston engine which once fired the giant copper stills roar into life, and learn how whiskey barrels are constructed from the two full-time on-site coopers. The tour also includes an expert step-by-step guide to modern whiskey distillation.
Kilbeggan ceased to function as a working distillery in 1957 when the Lockes family decommissioned the stills.
A museum was set up by the local community on the distillery site in 1982 to showcase the heritage and history of the unique buildings and the industry’s economic impact on the surrounding area.
The entire site – Lockes, stock and barrel, was bought by the Cooley Distillery in 1987 to house maturing whiskey being produced in their Riverstown facility in County Louth. In 2007, Cooley reactivated a pot still at Kilbeggan and this ancient distillery began producing whiskey for the first time in 50 years.
