Breathtaking views abound on the Wild Atlantic Way, like Fanad Head and its lighthouse located at the mouth of Lough Swilly. CHRIS HILL / TOURISM IRELAND / FAILTE IRELAND
Ireland’s spectacular west coast features some of the most stunning coastal scenery on earth. It’s a paradise for surfers, walkers, sailors, history buffs, food lovers, and whiskey fans—offering an epic coastline-hugging journey of 1,600 miles through ancient lands where towering cliffs have withstood the raw power of Atlantic waves for thousands of years. The route wends around the headlands of Cork in Ireland’s southwest, all the way up to Donegal in the northwest. Its shores fire the imagination with craggy islands, historic treasures, natural wonders, magnificent castles, quaint harbors, colorful towns, and deserted beaches. The entire route takes at least a week or two to cover, and more time will be required if you want to visit distilleries and sample the fine fare at the pubs along the way. But you don’t have to tackle it all, of course. The route can be started from either end, but since vehicles in Ireland drive on the left, go south to north if you want to drive next to the ocean.
Kinsale to Limerick
Starting from the south coast, there’s a distillery before you even set off from Kinsale, County Cork, the harbor town at the mouth of the river Bandon. Kinsale’s Blacks Brewery & Distillery is laying down single pot still and single malt whiskey as well as producing a range of excellent beers (distillery tours have yet to resume since the pandemic). Depart Kinsale and drive nine miles south to the lighthouse at the Old Head of Kinsale before heading to Clonakilty, a popular coastal town with plenty of accommodations, great food, live music, and lively conversation—or craic—in the pubs. It is the birthplace of Irish revolutionary Michael Collins (1890–1922); naturally, there’s also a whiskey named after him.
Michael Scully founded Clonakilty Distillery to make single pot still Irish whiskey; its first spirit was distilled in 2019. It has a Bühler mill, capable of handling different types of grain, and a mash conversion vessel used to achieve starch conversion of the malted and unmalted grains prior to being transferred to the lauter tun. The production team is experimenting with varying ratios of unmalted to malted barley, and have used 60:40, 50:50, and 40:60 single pot still recipes. Their aspiration is an elegant fruity spirit, so they employ long fermentation times of 100-120 hours, triple distill in long-necked stills, and have designed their spirit still with an upsloping lyne arm to allow only the lighter vapors over into the final spirit. Visitors can get an up-close view of this working distillery in a tour followed by a tasting.
The Scully family grows barley on their farm by the Galley Head lighthouse, including heritage varieties like Goldthorpe. The lighthouse has stood at the ocean’s edge since 1875. Scully uses his own barley for the unmalted portion of their single pot still recipes, while the malt comes from other farms in County Cork. Sitting 200 feet above the cliff edge, the farm can claim to have Ireland’s most southerly whiskey warehouse, and Clonakilty is filling it with a variety of barrels including bourbon, sherry, port, cognac, rum, stout, beer, and shaved-toasted-recharred wine casks. The current Clonakilty single malt releases, however, are sourced whiskeys finished by the team. Clonakilty was the first Irish distillery to offer private barrel selections in the U.S., and Clonakilty’s own single pot still whiskey is expected in 2024.
Further west, you’ll find Skibbereen, home to West Cork Distillers, a large operation that will accommodate visitors by appointment. Further west is Cape Clear Island, where Cape Clear Distillery is making gin and planning to build a whiskey distillery. There is a ferry service to Cape Clear that runs from the coastal town of Baltimore, but should you wish to keep going, the route winds around Mizen Head, Ireland’s most southwesterly point, where a footbridge can carry you perilously high above the crashing waves to a lighthouse.
Heading north and passing Bantry Bay, you can travel toward Kerry via the spectacular Healy Pass or take the coastal road to Allihies, with the option to take a detour to ride the cable car to Dursey Island. Explore the Iveragh Peninsula on the Ring of Kerry (a 111 mile stretch of roadway), taking in the colorful town of Sneem, Derrynane Beach, the Kerry Cliffs, and the dramatic drive through the Gap of Dunloe, which is a scenic pass through a glacial valley in the mountains, known as Macgillycuddy’s Reeks. Check out Portmagee, a coastal town that now has a sourced rum-finished whiskey named after it, available for tasting at the Portmagee Whiskey Experience, which has planning permission for a new distillery. The town is also where boat tours to Skellig Michael can be booked in the summer. The Skellig Islands are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where you’ll discover the beehive stone huts of the monastic settlement established around the 7th century that was used as a movie location for “Star Wars” episodes VII and VIII.
Driving around the Dingle Peninsula takes you past Inch Strand, where “Ryan’s Daughter” was filmed, and where you can experience the Conor Pass, the Slea Head Drive, or take the ferry to Great Blasket Island. The peninsula’s whiskey attraction is Dingle Distillery, which opened in 2012 and makes single malt and single pot still whiskeys. Dingle recently launched its first core single malt expression using only first-fill casks.
Dingle is a small “no frills” distillery with no automation. Visitors can get up close to see inside the mash tun and smell the aromas, feel the heat from the three stills, and end their tour with a tasting of Dingle’s whiskeys, gin, and vodka. The main focus is the triple distilled single malt and pot still whiskeys, but Dingle has also experimented with double distillation, sometimes even throwing a bit of peated malt into the mix. The peat might be the influence of Graham Coull, Dingle’s Scottish master distiller. Initially, Dingle’s cask maturation focused on bourbon, sherry, and port, but more recently it has expanded to muscatel, rye, rum, and wine casks to create future Dingle expressions to suit every palate.
The final leg of this section takes you through Tralee, home of the Rose of Tralee festival, and on to Limerick.
KINSALE TO LIMERICK
DISTILLERIES
1 Blacks of Kinsale
2 Clonakilty Distillery
3 West Cork Distillers Limited
4 Cape Clear Distillery
5 Dingle Distillery
HOTELS
6 Fota Island Resort
7 The Europe Hotel & Resort
PUBS
8 Celtic Whiskey Bar & Larder
9 Dick Mack’s Pub
Limerick to Galway
The journey from Limerick around County Clare takes you past the mouth of River Shannon, around Loop Head, up to Spanish Point, where ships of the fleeing Spanish Armada wrecked in 1588, to Lisdoonvarna, home of the world-famous singles matchmaking festival. The 15th-century Knappogue Castle in Ennis, County Clare, lends its name to a well-respected Irish whiskeys, but it is not a distillery and is mainly used as an entertainment venue for medieval banquets—Irish Distillers, down in Midleton, County Cork, is in charge of the whiskeys now. County Clare is home to J.J. Corry, founded by Louise McGuane, who brought Irish whiskey bonding back to the family farm in 2015. She has since built an inventory of a variety of cask types and whiskeys of different ages in a bonded rackhouse used to age its whiskeys, including The Gael and The Hanson.
Offshore lie the Aran Islands, famous for their patchwork landscapes carved up by dry-stacked stone walls, world-renowned knitwear, and historical sites like Dún Aonghasa, which dates back to the Bronze Age. Further north into County Clare are the Cliffs of Moher and The Burren, a UNESCO Global Geopark. The Burren is a rocky limestone slab, a natural wonder and uniquely important habitat that looks like a lunar landscape.
Nearby, Noel Ó Lochlainn founded Burren Distillers in 2013, a boutique distillery that has been laying down 150 casks of spirit a year since 2019 in pursuit of creating a special single- estate triple-distilled whiskey. Visitors can see the distillery workers as they floor malt the local barley, the Irish oak vats used for mashing and fermenting, and the direct-fired alembic stills similar to the one introduced by the Cistercian monks to Corcomroe Abbey in the 12th century. Ó Lochlainn is intent on producing a highly independent spirit that tastes like no other today, drawing on Gaelic, French, and Spanish influences from a time when this was an important trading port, back to the time of Brehon law and the mid-13th century onward, when the merchant families of the Tribes of Galway held sway. Burren Distillers is definitely one to watch.
Finally to Galway, the largest city on the route, and an excellent place to explore on foot with its rich history of language, music, and dance, and plenty of options for good food, live music, and a pint or a whiskey. It’s also where you’ll find Micil Distillery, which started laying down spirit for whiskey in 2020, becoming the first new distillery in the city in over 100 years. Reflecting the spirit of their native Connemara, brothers Pádraic and Jimín Ó Griallais make poitín and whiskeys from 100% Irish grains, focusing on peated styles by malting with turf from the family farm at Inverin. They are 6th generation poitín makers, drawing on 170 years of know-how, though Pádraic and Jimín admit they are the first in the family to make whiskey legally.
LIMERICK TO GALWAY
DISTILLERIES
1 J.J. Corry
2 Burren Distillers
3 Micil Distillery
HOTELS
4 Adare Manor
5 Dromoland Castle Hotel
6 Glenlo Abbey Hotel & Estate
PUBS
7 O’Loclainn’s Irish Whiskey Bar
8 Garavan’s Bar
9 Sonny Molloy’s
Galway to Sligo
This is a remarkably picturesque leg of the journey that cuts through Connemara, passing Kylemore Abbey, the sea stack at Downpatrick Head, and on to Croagh Patrick, Ireland’s holy mountain that overlooks Clew Bay. There are charming towns to explore, like Spiddal, Clifden, Roundstone, and Westport that you’ll never want to leave. And if you like catching big waves, the coastline around Mayo and Sligo is known as the surf coast. It was at Derrigimlagh, an area known for its blanket peat bog, where Guglielmo Marconi set up the first transatlantic radio station and sent the first transatlantic radio message in 1907. A collectible limited-edition Jameson released to mark the centenary of Marconi’s ties to early radio still comes up at auction periodically.
The distillery options in Mayo are improving every year. Lough Mask Distillery is a craft distillery in Killateeaun that opened in 2018. One-hour tours are offered where you can view the alembic stills used to create peated and unpeated double-distilled spirits designated to become Loch Measc single malt. Connacht Distillery, the first legal distillery in the area in over 150 years, is housed inside an old bakery by the River Moy, and began distilling in 2016. The inaugural release of its own whiskey was a batch of double distilled single malt launched in 2021 made from 100% Irish malt, though triple distilled whiskeys are maturing in the warehouse. The distillery can produce 300,000 liters of pure alcohol per year (lpa), and everything from mashing to bottling is done on-site. Tours are available by appointment.
No visit to the area is complete without a drive across the swing bridge to Achill Island to see Keem Bay. Now the island has the Achill Island Distillery, where visitors can take the tour and sample the whiskeys of its Irish American brand.
Lough Gill Distillery in County Sligo was commissioned in 2019 and is the home of Athrú whiskey. Buffalo Trace owner Sazerac acquired the distillery in 2022 and moved in its Paddy’s and Michael Collins brands, appointing Helen Mulholland from Bushmills as master blender, and announcing its intention to expand production and turn the distillery into a major visitor attraction.
GALWAY TO SLIGO
DISTILLERIES
1 Lough Mask Distillery
2 Achill Island Distillery
3 The Connacht Distillery
4 Lough Gill Distillery
HOTELS
5 Ashford Castle
6 Castle Dargan Hotel
PUBS
7 Shoot the Crows
Sligo to Inishowen
The final leg of the journey takes us out of Sligo past the flat-topped Benbulben Mountain in Yeats country, through Leitrim’s coastline, and into Donegal. This is a wild landscape, sparsely populated, with small clusters of cottages dotted around the hillsides, and boasts landmarks such as Fanad Head and its lighthouse, Mount Errigal, Mamore Gap, the megalithic tomb at Carrowmore, the Glengesh Pass, and Sliabh Liag, Ireland’s highest sea cliffs. The distilleries in Donegal that are open to the public are easy to access by way of the northern leg of the Wild Atlantic Way.
Ardara is home to festivals, art galleries, and a thriving community of craftspeople, so the addition of Ardara Distillery in 2022 seemed like a natural development. It’s operated by Sliabh Liag Distillers, and is dedicated to the production of smoky Irish whiskey using malt peated with Donegal turf up to 55 phenol parts per million. With its Forsyths distilling equipment and a production capacity of 500,000 lpa, is laying down spirit for single malt and single pot still whiskeys using an “all grains in” technique, with Donegal oats and barley. Visitors can see the whole process up close, including the cooker, the stainless steel fermenters, and the three copper pot stills, finishing with a tasting of their Silkie whiskey range, named after the mermaid legend of the Atlantic coast.
Crolly Distillery has installed direct-fired alembic stills from the Cognac region of France, and started laying down single malt in 2020 and single pot still whiskey in 2021 using a grain-to-glass approach. Sampling its sourced whiskeys is part of the tour experience. Baoilleach Distillery, also in Donegal, is a cottage grain distillery where distiller Michael O’ Boyle makes small batches of craft spirits using a small copper pot still and column. You can also nip across the Northern Ireland border into County Tyrone to visit the aptly named Wild Atlantic Distillery in Aghyaran, a small craft operation that’s beginning to lay down spirit for a new Irish whiskey.
The journey’s end approaches, taking in the spectacular Rosguill Peninsula, followed by the Inishowen Peninsula, making for Malin Head, Ireland’s most northerly point. It’s a fitting end to this adventure, from Mizen to Malin; every traveler will leave the road with memories to last a lifetime, as well as a better appreciation of the fine whiskeys being crafted along this rugged Irish coastline.
SLIGO TO INISHOWEN
DISTILLERIES
1 Sliabh Liag Distillery/Ardara
2 The Crolly Distillery
3 Baoilleach Distillery
4 Wild Atlantic Gin School & Distillery Tours
HOTELS
5 Lough Eske Castle
PUBS
6 Nancy’s
7 Blakes of the Hollow
HOTELS OF THE WAY
Fota Island Resort
Co. Cork • fotaisland.ie
A superb hotel and spa on an island in Cork Harbor with three championship golf courses.
The Europe Hotel & Resort
Co. Kerry • theeurope.com
A luxury hotel on the shore of Lough Léin, near Killarney.
Adare Manor
Co. Limerick • adaremanor.com
This jewel offers a Michelin-starred restaurant, and will host the 2027 Ryder Cup on its Tom Fazio-designed golf course.
Dromoland Castle
Co. Clare • dromoland.ie
Impressive accommodations are offered in this 16th-century baronial castle with a championship golf course.
Glenlo Abbey Hotel & Estate
Co. Galway • glenloabbeyhotel.ie
Five-star luxury lodging dating back to the 18th century, with a 9-hole golf course.
Ashford Castle
Co. Mayo • ashfordcastle.com
A contender for Ireland’s finest hotel experience, here you can spend the night in an 800 year old castle that was formerly the home of the Guinness family, and the grounds were used for scenes in “The Quiet Man.”
Castle Dargan Estate
Co. Sligo • castledargan.com
Stay in a magnificent 18th-century house set on 170 acres of mature woodland with a championship golf course.
Lough Eske Castle
Co. Donegal • lougheskecastlehotel.com
Sleep in this 17th-century castle hotel after enjoying a whiskey in the Father Browne bar, named after the photographer who disembarked from the Titanic at Cobh, Co. Cork with a most remarkable set of photographs before the ship set sail on the final part of its voyage.
BACK TO SCHOOL
On your way to or from the Wild Atlantic Way, consider a little education at The Irish Whiskey Academy. Set on the campus of Irish Distillers’ Midleton Distillery, about 15 miles east of Cork, the Academy will educate more than 1,000 whiskey enthusiasts this year. Most attendees are industry people, but there’s also room for regular whiskey lovers who come from around the world. The Academy offers two course options:
•A one-day session, the Discoverer Package, covers raw materials, brewing and fermentation, pot still versus continuous distillation, maturation and cask types, bottling, a distillery and warehouse tour, cask sampling, and whiskey tastings. Lunch is included. The course is offered once a month at $380.
•A two-day session, the Enthusiast Academy, offers a more in-depth treatment of the same topics, along with a live cooperage demonstration and a visit and tasting at the Irish Distillers micro distillery where Method & Madness whiskeys are created. Also included are a 5-Star hotel accommodation, dinner in Cork, and lunch on both days. This one is held once every quarter for $1,292.
Reservations can be made at irishwhiskeyacademy.com. Graduates receive a personalized bottle of whiskey, Irish Whiskey Academy book, and the Academy’s certificate of completion. Framed and mounted, it makes a great addition to the memorabilia of any whiskey fan.—David Fleming
WHISKEY AND WHALES
In the seaside town of Clonakilty in Ireland’s southwest stands a weather-beaten copper sculpture of a whale’s tail. It was inspired by a beloved humpback named Boomerang, who holds the distinction of being Ireland’s most famous whale. Boomerang, who can be identified by the unique markings on his tail, was first sighted in 2001 and has come back to Clonakilty’s shores nearly every year since. The locals gave him that name because his return is so reliable. The sculpture, a landmark on the Wild Atlantic Way, stands right beside Clonakilty Distillery. Inspired by it and the abundance of whales and dolphins in its coastal waters, Clonakilty has made the minke whale tail its logo, and it can be seen on all its labels. It even makes a gin called Minke. “People come for a tasting and tour of the distillery, and later go on a whale-watching tour,” notes Clonakilty founder and owner Michael Scully.
Boomerang, known to Irish researchers as HBIRL03, makes his annual appearance between late summer and early winter, and he’s one of many whales seen off southwest Ireland’s coast. The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group has over 90 humpback whales in its catalog, and there are 24 species of whales and dolphins recorded in Irish waters.—David Fleming
•Atlantic Whale & Wildlife Tours offers guided whale and dolphin-watching tours from the harbor at Courtmacsherry. Run by husband and wife Mark and Patricia Gannon, trips are available daily. atlanticwhaleandwildlifetours.com
•Whale Watch West Cork in the nearby town Baltimore also offers a variety of whale and dolphin tours run by whale expert Nic Slocum. whalewatchwestcork.com
