THE DISTILLING INDUSTRY IN IRELAND. 495 



Even before the reign of Elizabeth the Irish distilhng industry had 

 assumed considerable proportions, and restrictions had at various times 

 been imposed upon the manufacture and sale of spirits. A statute was 

 passed at Drogheda, in 1556, restricting the manufacture of whiskey — "a 

 drink nothing profitable to be daily used and now universally made through- 

 out this Realm, especially on the borders of the Irishry, whereby much corn, 

 grain, and other things are consumed." A heavy penalty was imposed 

 upon domestic distilling, the nobility being excepted. It was this statute 

 that made distilling without licence illicit, and the penalty of death was 

 afterwards enforced against illicit distillers. By the end of the sixteenth 

 century many licensed distillers existed, and persons were nominated in each 

 province who had the sole power of granting licences. 



The industry of distilling spirits from grain had even before the reign of 

 Charles II. assumed proportions sufficiently great to make spirits productive 

 of revenue, and after the Restoration in 1 660 a permanent tax was imposed 

 upon every gallon distilled. The gradual development of the distilling 

 industry in Ireland can be best followed by examining the official returns 

 relating to the tax. The quantity of spirits upon which duty was paid in 

 Ireland exceeded one million gallons, for the first time, in 1773, whilst the 

 quantity made at the end of the century was over four million gallons. 



A number of the most important distilleries in Ireland were started in the 



latter half of the eighteenth century. The Bushmills 



The earliest Distillery is said to be the oldest in Ireland, as, in 



Irish Distilleries, the year 1743 it was being worked by a band of 

 smugglers, but in 1784 it was recognised as a legiti- 

 mate distillery, making about 16,000 gallons of whiskey per annum, most of 

 which was exported to the West Indies and America. A number of other 

 distilleries were established about this time, thus the Brusna Distillery, 

 Kilbeggan, was founded about 1750; the Thomas Street Distillery in 

 Dublin was purchased by Mr. Peter Roe in 1757, and the North Mall dis- 

 tillery in Cork was erected by ]\Ir. Wyse in 1779, whilst in Dublin the Bow 

 Street Distillery, the John's Lane Distillery, and the Marrowbone Lane 

 Distillery were all started before the end of the century. There can be 

 no doubt that towards the end of the eighteenth century the distilling 

 industry flourished exceedingly in Ireland, and the consumption of spirits 

 so increased as to attract the attention of the Irish Parliament, which, as 

 has been mentioned in the preceding article, endeavoured to check the 

 activity of the distillers by encouraging the brewing industry. 



Morewood writing about the distilleries in the South of Ireland in 1838 

 mentions in his treatise on " Inebriating Liquors," the establishments of 

 Wyse, Callaghan, Morrogh, Lyons, O'Keeff^e, Shee and Daly as being of 

 immense magnitude. The concern of Murphy, and that of Hackett at 

 Middleton were, he declared, little inferior, whilst the distillery at Clonmel 

 gave employment to 150 hands, and at Brown's establishment in Limerick, 

 3,000 tons of coal and 20,000 boxes of turf were annually used, whilst the 

 machinery and implements cost upwards of ;^20,000. 



Morewood gives an interesting account of the materials used at the best 

 Irish distilleries about 183S, and mentions as a typical example the following 

 proportions : — 



One-fourth malt at 32s. per barrel of ij cwts. = 8s. 

 One-half barley at 18?. do. do. = gs. 



One-fourth oats at 12s. do. do. = 3s. 



