Irish whiskey brand returns

Irish whiskey brand Dunville, which was established in 1801, is back on the market again after 80 years.

The new Dunville Irish Whiskey is being produced at Echlinville Distillery, in Kircubbinin, Co Down, which was granted a licence to distil whiskey last year.

Consignments of the new whiskey have already been shipped to customers in Britain, other parts of Europe and the US.

“Whiskey, of course, has to mature in a cask for at least three years. We are able to provide the Dunville whiskey now because we were able to purchase a consignment from another Irish distillery and finish and blend it ourselves,” Echlinville Distillery managing director Shane Braniff said.

“This stock is limited and will disappear long before our own product comes to market in late 2016,” he added.

In 1837, Dunville launched its best-known pot still whiskey brand, the premium VR, and in 1869 the company built Belfast’s biggest distillery, Royal Irish Distillers. While the whiskey was shipped worldwide, the biggest market was the US until Prohibition in the 1920s. The company never recovered from this setback and production of whiskey ceased in 1935.

Echlinville Distillery was granted a license to distil whiskey in Northern Ireland in May 2013 – the first in the north of Ireland in over 125 years.

Mr Braniff is now developing a state-of-the art distillery complex on the Echlinville Estate in county Down.