McConnell's Whisky

A  very old whisky gets a vibrant new life! 

McConnell's is one of the oldest Irish Whisky brands on record - and also one of the most celebrated. 

In 1776, James and John McConnell opened their Belfast distillery where they crafted the first recorded Irish Whisky brand to exist there. McConnell’s Whisky was a popular export to the US, until Prohibition severely impacted sales, and the distillery was closed. Today, after 90 long years, the legendary McConnell’s brand has been revived and restored to barrooms and saloons from Belfast to Buller. A robust, silky smooth whisky, soon to be made in a new distillery at an infamous location - the old Crumlin Road jail in Belfast.

What about the 'e'? In the 1900’s, some of Ireland’s distillers began to use the ‘e’ to differentiate their uisce beatha from their Celtic Whisky cousins across the Irish Sea. Scotch had become a major player in the export market, and some thought by adding the letter ‘e’ would make it stand out. McConnell's Irish Whisky, being the oldest in Northern Ireland, predates the change and as it was already such an iconic brand with 125 years of production, decided to keep with tradition.