Previously, I wrote about my experience joining a whiskey society in Ireland and shared that one of the benefits of being a part of such a society is gaining exclusive access to distilleries and whiskeys not typically available to the general public. One such remarkable experience occurred recently when I had the opportunity to accompany the Waterford Whiskey Society on a trip to Boann Distillery in County Meath. This distillery, which has been operational for a few years, only recently obtained planning permission for a visitor centre, making this private society visit a true privilege.

Established in 2015 by the Cooney family, who have a legacy in the beverage industry, Boann Distillery draws inspiration from the rich heritage of the Boyne Valley—a region steeped in history and folklore. The distillery derives its name from the goddess Boann, connected with the Boyne River that flows through the mystical landscape enveloping the distillery. This link to ancient mythology sets the stage for the enchanting experience that awaited us.

A bus was arranged to transport members from Waterford to Boann Distillery, with pick-up and drop-off points in Dublin. The journey was exceptionally smooth, despite Harry Styles making an appearance later that day at Slane Castle—a concert venue that now also hosts whiskey events—accessible via the same motorway. Upon our exit, we soon caught a glimpse of the gleaming stills, visible through the all-glass façade of the building that was once a car showroom. Our progress on the road was such that we arrived an hour earlier than anticipated. We seized the opportunity to stretch our legs and explore the distillery’s grounds, which currently consist mostly of open spaces and construction areas. More details on this will follow.

When the tour officially commenced, we were treated to a sumptuous lunch. A nice touch and a well-needed “re-fueling” before all the whiskeys we were about to have. With food in our bellies, Pat Cooney, founder of Boann, arrived to give us a warm welcome. Another nice touch from the distillery.

We were then handed to the very capable hands of Alex Witt, Head Distiller, who has been working as a distiller there since May 2020. He shared more about their three Italian-made pot stills and gin still, their distillation process, their focus on mash bills, and nano technology. Even at the start from mash to distillation, you can see innovation is at the heart of what they do. Do these things make a difference? Well, judging by their new make spirit’s recognition as the world’s best new make or young spirit in 2021 at the World Whiskey Awards and as overall winner of the Poitin category in last year’s Irish Whiskey Awards, they might be on to something.

Boann used to distill a 50-50 mashbill of malt and barley. At the back of the Vintage Mashbill project they did with esteemed whiskey expert Fionnán O’Connor, they adopted a new standard mashbill of 40% malted barley, 55% green barley, 3.75% oats and 1.25% rye which falls under the current Irish Single Pot Still GI. As for their pioneering nano-technology, you can check on their website more details but here’s an overly simplified explanation. The lyne arms on their stills are lined with a paint-like substance that have grooves and mounds at the microscopic level with the purpose of increasing copper contact. Alex said that when they open it up for cleaning, you can see deposits so it must be doing something.

Our next stop was to see their mash tuns and washbacks up close. Lots of stainless steel but it was great to see fully operational tanks as I’ve been to some distillery tours where some of these are not in use. You can tell that Boann is ramping up production and are not leaving any gaps as much as possible. We headed back down the steps into the distillers office where they showed us on the computer how automated most of their process is. They use software typical to any large manufacturing operation and it takes the guesswork out. There’s something that could be said for craft but it’s also important to appreciate scale and modern technology, especially if it’s as thoughtful as Boann’s.

At the back of this office is another door that leads to the back part of the building. An enclosed space with random bulky items that they are planning to use for another still and more washbacks which will allow them to operate 24/7. Alex led us through this space to their on-site warehouse where you can see casks stacked at varying heights all across the length of the building. Not all of Boann’s casks are here as they are just in the process of building their maturation warehouses adjacent to the distillery. At the time of our visit, it was a dusty site but you can see massive concrete buildings which can apparently store up to 35,000 casks.

At another area of the warehouse, we had our first sips of some cask pulled whiskeys. A 3-year old ex-bourbon aged from their previous 50-50 mashbill, a mixed mashbill recasked in a hundred year-old oloroso sherry, and another one of their 50-50 aged exclusively in moscatel. Although young, they are all promising and are ageing really well.

When we came back to the main building where we had our lunch earlier, the area has now been set-up for a tasting. In front of us were three whiskeys:

• The Whistler Dark Symphony – A blended Irish Whiskey finished in NEOC Cognac casks
• The Whistler 10 Year Old Single Malt finished in Virgin French Oak
• The Whistler 16 Year Old Single Malt finished in Palo Cortado

Another one of Boann’s employees, Andy Mooney, Distiller and Blender, led us through the tasting answering questions from the group. His background from The London Distillery Company is a welcome addition to the team. All whiskeys were enjoyed with the 10 year old French Oak impressing a lot of us. The Whistler is Boann’s brand of sourced whiskeys which are blended and/or finished in quality casks. I’ve tried a lot of The Whistler range and they do punch above their weight. Mosaic is a great bright citrus and fruit forward grain whiskey, the Imperial Stout has a nice black bottle and a unique flavour profile with strong hints of chocolate and marmite, and the Good, the Bad, and the Smoky, is a nice balanced peated whiskey.

And as if we haven’t had enough whiskey yet, they brought us a taste of their Summer Solstice release which was still under wraps and unreleased when we tried it. Solstice is Boann’s own liquid release. This particular release, a second on the series, has been aged in a Rivesaltes cask. It was delightful to try and similar to our warehouse tasting earlier, a great example of how young whiskey could taste great with the right conditions.

To finish off the tour, Pat Cooney came back and answered more questions from the group together with Alex and Andy. Some of the things they shared were to stay within the confines of the distillery but having an insider’s look, it would be worth following Boann’s journey, especially now that their vintage mashbill project is about to turn officially into whiskeys. At this stage in the Irish Whiskey Industry, they are one of the producers that have branched off their sourced whiskey brand and are now about to showcase the extent of their own liquid and what they can do when they have full control of the process from start to finish.