What A Year at the Lough Gill Distillery!

our head distiller: Ollie Alcorn

Ollie Alcorn is our head distiller here at the Lough Gill Distillery.

It's only when I go flicking through our brew sheets from early 2020 I realise what I/we've accomplished during our first solid year of production at Lough Gill Distillery.

Problems with bins incorrectly discharging, stuck mashes, choking elevators, low yields, blockages in heat exchangers, the loss of esters through still vents, continuous boiler lockouts, the incorrect flow rate from pumps, and even conveyors running backwards causing steaming hot mash to erupt from our newly commissioned lauter tun.

Each one of these issues seemed like a big deal at the time but as things move on and the list of issues gets shorter, I sleep better. These days our plant runs like a swiss clock...most of the time.

The best advice I was given before we 'fired up' the distillery was to get consistent before changing anything.

This takes longer than you'd think. Especially when you're trying to produce a premium product and maximise the efficiency of the equipment. There's a fine line. 

For me, the goal has always been to produce the highest quality single malt for Athrú and put it into the best casks available, and thankfully that's what I've been allowed to do.