Tours of Waterford Distillery; Did you know that Waterford Distillery are now offering tours of their facility in Waterford City? You can make your booking HERE.
According to Waterford Whisky “Embark on our terroir tour: an invitation to the curious to discover how we create our terroir-driven, barley-forward, natural whisky.
We’ll welcome you to the Facilitator, the modern marvel that is Waterford Distillery on the banks of the River Suir, and walk you through every step of the way that our purely Irish-grown barley takes on its way to become Waterford Whisky”.
“If you’re well behaved, we might even let you taste a few of Head Distiller Ned’s creations at the end”.
For larger bookings/corporate events please email tours@waterfordwhisky.com for further details.
There’s been a brewery on the site which is on the banks of the River Suir since 1792. William Strangman established his brewery for “strong ale and beer” in 1792 and it would continue to brew for 215 years.
Strangmans, at its height, was brewing 18 million pints a year of its famed brown beer “brought to such perfection as to supersede the necessity of any importation from England”. Waterford became a net exporter of beer,
But following independence and subsequent loss of the UK and empire market, then WW2, sales slumped to barely a million pints. The brewery limped on but finally shut down in 1948. It was reopened by Guinness as Cherry’s brewery in 1955 but closed for the last time in 2002. The ageing plant was superseded by a super-modern – though short-lived – €40m Guinness brewery in 2003. It closed only a decade later in 2013.
William Strangman’s original brewery, though now silent, stands testament to this legendary brewing heritage and one man’s vision. Alongside, dominating the town’s river front, now stands the modern Waterford Distillery, converted from brewery to distillery by Mark Reynier in 2015.
Perversely, the 1791 Act of Parliament that resulted in Strangman’s brewery being built was itself the death knell of the town’s distilling industry. Within 20 years Waterford’s three distilleries had closed down. Now, with almost poetic justice, we have come full circle: the first spirit distilled in Waterford for 200 years occurred on 9th December 2015 on Strangman’s brewery site.
For more information on how to book your tour of Waterford Distillery click HERE.
