Lift a glass to the joy and history of whiskey

Bill Linnane enrolled in Midleton Distillery’s Irish Whiskey Academy, where, after learning how whiskey has been produced on the site for 200 years, he savoured the spirit direct from cask and even blended his own.

EVERY Christmas I watch Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory with the same sense of wonder I had when I was a kid. As someone cursed with a relentlessly sweet tooth, I still like to imagine that the inside of any factory that produces my favourite things would be as magical.

Obviously, tastes change and people grow and, after careful consultation with my cholesterol levels, I switched my allegiances to a more mature indulgence — whiskey. So, to get access to a distillery is a treat indeed.