Nun's Island Distillery — County Galway Single Malt Whisky

Nun's Island Distillery is an Irish whiskey distillery located on Nun's Island in Galway City, County Galway, Ireland. It was founded in 1846 and closed in the early 20th century, with several of its stone buildings still standing today. For much of the 1880s it was the sole distillery operating in the province of Connacht, producing single pot still whiskey sold under the name Persse's Galway Whiskey.

History

Distilling on Nun's Island predates its 1846 founding date: a distillery was run there by John Joyce in the late 1700s, passing to Patrick Joyce and later to James and Patrick Joyce, who by 1828 had grown output to around 130,000 proof gallons a year. Around 1840–1841 the site was bought by the Persse family, established Galway distillers who initially converted the premises into a woollen mill producing frieze cloth. When the lease on the Persses' nearby Newcastle Distillery expired in 1846, they re-established distilling at Nun's Island, and this refounding is generally cited as the distillery's modern founding date.

Under the Persses the distillery grew into one of the largest employers in Galway, with a workforce of more than 100 people. When the whisky writer Alfred Barnard visited in 1886, he recorded three pot stills of 16,000, 10,000 and 6,000 gallons capacity, thirteen washbacks, and warehousing for around 5,000 casks. By that point annual output had reached roughly 400,000 gallons, and the distillery's Persse's Galway Whiskey was sold throughout Connacht and reportedly supplied to the British House of Commons.

Quick Facts

• Region: County Galway, Connacht
• Founded: 1846 (on a distilling site dating to the late 1700s)
• Owner: Persse family (last owners before closure)
• Status: Closed
• Stills: 3 pot stills (16,000, 10,000 and 6,000 gallon capacity)

Closure & Legacy

Like many Irish distilleries, Nun's Island struggled financially in the early 20th century and ceased production around 1908, with remaining stock wound down over the following years before the site was mothballed in 1915. Much of the distillery complex was later demolished, though several of the main stone buildings, notably the large riverside warehouse, still stand on Nun's Island today. Original bottlings of Persse's Galway Whiskey are now extremely rare collectors' items: one surviving bottle was entered for auction in 2002 with a £100,000 reserve but failed to sell, before eventually changing hands for £3,300 in 2014.