Heart of new distillery installed ahead of opening next month

The long-awaited return of whiskey production to Tullamore has taken a significant step closer, with the installation yesterday (Sunday) of a custom-made spirit safe at Tullamore Dew’s new distillery.

The symbolic and functional heart of a distillery, the installation of the spirit safe is a major milestone for the €35m distillery that’s set to open in Tullamore next month.

Spirit safes are used by master distillers to identify the middle cut, or ‘heart’ of the spirit, before filling it into casks for maturation. It allows the spirit to be fully analysed by the distiller without compromising the integrity of the distilling process.

The new distillery’s spirit safe was made by the famous Forsyth Group in Moray, Scotland. It completed the 775km journey to Tullamore under the care of two of Forsyth’s specialist engineers, who expertly installed it at the heart of the new distillery’s still house.

Uniquely designed in a triangular shape, the spirit safe is ten cubed metres of glass and polished brass. It’s part of a new distillery that will in years to come produce some 1.5m cases of triple distilled pot still and malt whiskeys.