Peter Mulryan is something of a rebel. He has released a string of innovative gins, flavoured with Wexford strawberries, raspberries and even Barry’s Tea, as well as the highly successful standard Blackwater No 5 gin. “Gin pays the bills, he spends it,” he says, pointing at recently installed whiskey distiller John Wilcox.
There are great plans afoot regarding whiskey in Ballyduff, Co Waterford. Mulryan and Wilcox are tearing up the rule book. “We’re doing a lot of funky stuff here,” says Mulryan. The pair are experimenting with various very old mash bills (the list of ingredients used for making whiskey) that include oats, barley, wheat and rye. He has mash bills dating back to the 1890s.
“The further back you go, the madder they get. The flavour you get is lovely – its ridiculous, its really, really lovely,” says a very enthusiastic Mulryan. “We want to make the kind of whiskey that nobody is making any more.”
They are also experimenting with ageing in various casks. Unfortunately, they won’t really know for three years or more how it is all going to turn out.
In the meantime, Mulryan has released Blackwater Tanora Tangerine Gin. Those from the rebel county will be very familiar with Tanora, a tangerine flavoured drink – but much more – favoured by the cognoscenti of Cork and beyond. Apparently, when Denis Irwin was playing for Manchester United, his mother would send him bottles of Tanora, along with Tayto crisps.
The Tanora gin is a joint venture with Coca-Cola, owner of the Tanora brand. To make it Mulryan adds tangerine peel (laboriously peeled and scraped by hand, according to the back label). The result is a delicious gin, powerfully flavoured with orange, that sits very nicely alongside the classic juniper. Something to enjoy this summer with plenty of tonic.
