When the Tullamore Dew whiskey heritage centre and restaurant on Bury Quay in Tullamore closed down in October 2020, there was disappointment at the loss of an attraction that had once drawn up to 40,000 people a year.
This week, however, the brand's Scottish owners William Grant & Sons will open its promised new visitor experience at the Tullamore distillery itself, with a local event taking place on Monday and an official launch scheduled for St Patrick's Day.
The 105-minute tour will give visitors “the chance to see, smell, taste and touch every aspect” of how the second-largest Irish whiskey brand is produced, with visitors able to both blend and bottle their own.
Tickets, which cost €35 for walk-ins and €31.50 online, have been on sale since February 28th, with 76 sold on the first day, before the company had begun promoting it.
Preparing for the opening has been "a huge focus" in recent months for Tullamore Dew's associate global brand director Nora Torpey, who joined the company in November from RTÉ.
“It’s such a wonderful opportunity to showcase the brand and the distillery,” she said of the new “ultimate visitor experience”.
The €35 million grain-to-grass distillery on the edge of Tullamore, completed in 2014, spans 58 acres, on which the whiskey is milled, mashed, fermented, distilled, matured and bottled. As part of the tour, visitors will be invited to “dip the dog” – sample whiskey direct from the cask – as 50,000 barrels mature around them.
“It’s like walking into an old oak forest. There is something really special about it,” said Ms Torpey of the maturation floor.
Although it hopes for "tens of thousands" of visitors, Tullamore Dew does not expect the numbers through the door to be as high as they were for the previous visitor centre in the Old Bonded Warehouse, a building since acquired by golfer Shane Lowry and publican and hotelier Alan Clancy.
Tourist recovery
How many people it ends up welcoming in 2022 will depend on the strength of the recovery in overseas tourist numbers in the wake of the pandemic.
“We’re sort of being cautiously optimistic. I think that’s the only way to be at the moment,” Ms Torpey said.
It is also hoped the new distillery tour will help build the brand known internally as “Tully” in the domestic Irish market, where it is outsold by four competitors. Worldwide, Tullamore Dew is the second-biggest Irish whiskey behind Jameson, selling 1.2 million cases in pandemic-struck 2020.
Its biggest markets are the US, eastern Europe and the Nordics, while it launched in Chile last year and is seeking to expand in South America and Asia amid a boom in Irish whiskey exports. Like other drinks brands, it has ceased exporting to Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
Product innovation is ongoing. Tullamore Dew Honey, introduced to the Czech market last year, will launch in 10 more markets in 2022, and Dublin Airport exclusive Tullamore Rouge – matured in Bordeaux casks – will be expanded to other airports, Ms Torpey said.
While the marketing executive is new to whiskey both professionally and as a drinker – “I’m learning about the category myself” – the opportunity to work for a family-owned business, selling an Irish brand globally, was just part of the appeal.
“There is something really nice about working with a brand that is about sociability and conviviality.”
