The beginning
Our story begins with a group of friends and a stroke of luck - or was it fate? In 2014, these whiskey lovers and story seekers, discovered a vast warehouse complex, concealed by a forgotten 300 year old Palladian house in Hazelwood forest, Co. Sligo.
The very land that had inspired W.B. Yeats’ poem, The Song of Wandering Aengus was to inspire another story. And the founders embarked on a journey to transform this land and its buildings into a world class single malt distillery and maturation facility. The Athrú story is just beginning; come and join us on our journey…
the Perfect Place
Picture-perfect scenery of Co. Sligo’s majestic mountains, rolling fields and rugged coastlines form the backdrop to the Lough Gill Distillery.
Immortalised in poetry and famed for its scenery, surfing and warm hospitality, we’ve often wished we could take those elements and bottle them. And maybe, just maybe, we can...
History, Folklore & Mythology
The very foundations which now form our distillery hold hundreds of years of history and the legacy of the families who lived here. But, it’s not just the three hundred years of the Wynne family’s tenure at Hazelwood estate captured here. It’s perhaps little wonder that the land is the inspiration for much Irish folklore and mythology, when these grounds hold many secrets; those of iron age burial grounds and megalithic complexes.
The Distillery
Conceived in Ireland and built in Italy, we use state of the art equipment and energy capture technology to produce the highest quality Irish single malt.
Capable of producing over one million litres of alcohol per annum, every drop from our three hand-crafted copper stills is triple distilled in the finest Irish tradition.
The Maturation Warehouse
Uniquely we have over six acres under roof next to Lough Gill with the capacity to safely store all our single malt in the same spectacular location. This is where we mature and finish all our single malts, each and every one benefitting from that unique flavour profile imparted by the fresh Atlantic air.
We have also opened our maturation warehouse space to other independent distillers and offer a bonded warehouse storage service to a number of craft producers in the West of Ireland.
Our Single Malts
Our distillery team has a single obsession each day: the finest Irish single malt whiskey.
We use only the highest quality ingredients in our whiskey, sourcing heritage barley from a small group of Irish growers and drawing water from an ice age aquifer running beneath Lough Gill. Our whiskey is triple distilled in the Irish tradition and carefully 'cut' to produce a spirit with a distinctive fruity flavour and velvety mouthfeel.
Change or transformation
Athrú (pronounced Ah Roo) is an Irish word, meaning change or transform, and it’s a word that embodies what we do here at the Lough Gill Distillery.
Inspired by these transformations that see us continue to evolve, from turning simple grains to the finest Irish single malt whiskey, and noting the transformative journey our distillery’s grounds have been on, we chose Athrú as the name for our brand.
MEET THE MAKERS
Helen Mulholland is the Master Blender here at Lough Gill Distillery.
Before joining Lough Gill Distillery Helen worked at Bushmills for almost 30 years and during her time as Master Blender, she shaped a series of successful whiskeys in the distillery’s impressive luxury portfolio of single malts and premium blends through her careful selection of casks that produce different flavour profiles and aromas.
Helen has had a ground-breaking career as one of the world’s leading Irish Whiskey master blenders.
She was the first female Master Blender in Irish Whiskey history, the first woman to be inducted into the Whisky Magazine International Hall of Fame and the first woman to be awarded a Chairman's Award from The Irish Whiskey Association for outstanding contribution to the development of the Irish whiskey industry and category.
Meet the makers
Our head distiller Ollie Alcorn is the driving force behind producing our Athrú single malt whiskey, and if anyone knows how to get the best out of our three magnificent stills, it’s Ollie.
Originally hailing from Australia, Ollie was the first member of the Lough Gill Distillery team back in 2014, and has been involved in every aspect of the distillery’s design and construction process.
Now, Ollie leads a dedicated team who together spend every day on our one obsession - to make the finest single malt whiskey.