North Mall Distillery — County Cork Single Malt Whisky

North Mall Distillery is an Irish whiskey distillery located on the North Mall, on the north bank of the River Lee in Cork City, County Cork, Ireland. It was founded in 1779 and closed following a devastating fire in 1920. It was one of the founding members of the Cork Distilleries Company, the group that would later merge into Irish Distillers and today underpins Midleton's Irish whiskey production.

History

North Mall Distillery was established in 1779 by brothers Thomas and Francis Wise on the north bank of the River Lee, on a site that had previously been occupied by a Dominican friary, the Abbey of St. Francis. Operating as Wise & Co., the distillery grew steadily through the 19th century, producing pot still Irish whiskey sold under the "Wise's Cork Old Pot Still Whiskey" name across Ireland, Britain, the colonies and the United States. Output rose from around 312,000 gallons a year in 1821 to roughly 400,000 gallons by 1833, and by 1886 the distillery covered 23 acres, employed some 250 workers and produced around 500,000 gallons annually, making it one of the largest of Cork's distilleries.

In 1867, Francis Wise sold the business into the newly formed Cork Distilleries Company (CDC), an amalgamation of four Cork distilleries — North Mall, The Green, Watercourse and Daly's — created to pool resources and compete more effectively. North Mall continued to distil under CDC ownership into the early twentieth century.

Quick Facts

• Region: County Cork, Ireland
• Founded: 1779
• Owner: Originally Thomas & Francis Wise; from 1867, Cork Distilleries Company (later part of Irish Distillers)
• Status: Closed

Closure & Legacy

A fire broke out at North Mall Distillery in 1920, completely destroying its five-storey mill. Rather than rebuild, Cork Distilleries Company chose to concentrate production at its Midleton site, and North Mall's days as a working distillery ended. The site continued in use as a bottling facility until around 2007, after which much of the land was acquired by University College Cork and Mercy University Hospital and redeveloped. A protected brick chimney stack and the former Distillery House, once the owner's residence, survive today as heritage structures marking the site. Because it closed a century ago, genuine North Mall/Wise's whiskey bottlings are extremely rare and are prized by collectors of historic Irish pot still whiskey.