Ella Mcsweeney's Posts

“Gather up the pots and the old tin cans... the mash, the corn, the barley and the bran...run like the devil from the excise man...keep the smoke from rising barney...keep your eyes well peeled today, the excise men are on their way...” And we all know what the ‘mountain tay’ the excise men were looking for in the hills of Connemara! Poitin. It’s long associated with illegality: first outlawed back in 1661, it was relatively recently, in 1997, when the Revenue Commissioners permitted the licensed sale of it within Ireland. Ella meets Mairtin MacConrai, a part time farmer from Leitir Moir, Connemara, who first made poitin with his father 50 years ago. She also visits Cooley Distillery in Kilbeggan, Co. Westmeath where they are making 1,000 bottles of 65% proof poitin; she talks to head distiller Alex Chasko and manager, Brian Quinn.