TULLAMORE DEW
Tullamore, County Offaly

The first modern factory distillery can be traced back to 1829. It was founded by Michael Malloy. When he passed away, the distillery was passed down to the Daly Family with Captain Bernard Daly in charge of the business.

Daly hired on one of his colleagues, Daniel E. Williams, who took over as General Manager. This move had a huge impact on the company. By 1890, the distillery was in full swing production with the now famous Tullamore Dew brand of Irish whiskey. It was actually Williams' initials that inspired the name of the brand... Daniel E. Williams.

Williams was an enterprising man. He is credited with having brought electricity to Tullamore in 1893. The town's first telephone lines were installed in the distillery. And he introduced motorized transportation. He run a commercial empire throughout the Irish midlands, which included the drinks business, as well as importing tea, selling seed and grain, and had a network of twenty-six general stores.

Tough times came when American went into Prohibition in 1919, and again when Britain suffered through an economic war in the 1930s. It was after W.W.II that Edmund Williams, Daniel's grandson, used modern marketing techniques to reestablish Irish whiskey as a world leader. Edmund proved as enterprising as his grandfather when in 1947 Tullamore developed an Irish liqueur, Irish Mist. It was based on recipe passed down from ancient Irish chieftains. The blend included herbs and honey. The recipe was thought to have been lost in the 17th century, but it was rediscovered in a manuscript 250 years later.

He also capitalized on the Irish Coffee craze, a whiskey laden coffee with cream and sugar that was invented by chef Joe Sheridan in 1942, Foynes, County Limerick.

The distillery closed in 1963 following the sale to Powers Irish Whiskey. Production was moved to a larger distillery in Midleton, County Cork. The Midleton Distillery is one of two distilleries making Irish whiskeys today. The other is Bushmills Distillery, County Antrim.

Tullamore Dew is the number two Irish whiskey brand in the world with sales of over 600,000 nine liter cases (industry standard measure) in 2007. It is currently the fastest growing Irish whiskey brand globally in the fastest growing spirits category.

It's the number one Irish whiskey brand in Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Latvia. In the last three of those countries, it significantly outsells all Scotch whisky brands.

The number one Irish whiskey is Jameson's Irish Whiskey, also known as John Jameson's Irish Whiskey, which is also produced at Midleton Distillery.

~ Pay attraction
~ Parking available
~ Accessible in most instances

http://www.tullamoredew.com