Legal Poitín going down a treat in the US

Jimmy Woulfe, Mid West Correspondent

Poitín of the same high quality as that which still surreptitiously flows from the illegal stills in the Slieve Felim hills of east Limerick, will be downed at many St Patrick’s Day celebrations in the US.

But this strong drink is all legal and produced by the Bunratty Mead and Liqueur Company near Bunratty Castle, using malting barley, yeast, sugar and water.

The Co Clare distillery has been working at full tilt for the past few months to get enough legally made mountain dew out to the US in time for the annual celebrations.

Oliver Dillon, managing director of the distillery, said his product is as close to the poitín illegally produced by generations of hooch makers in east Limerick and Connemara as you will find.

Oliver’s Potcheen product has been approved by the customs service and is licensed.

“Our product is as close as you will get to the best Slieve Felim potcheen. In preparing our recipe, I travelled all over the country, including Slieve Felim where I talked about poitín making with people whose families have more than 500 years experience of making the mountain dew,” he said.

Mr Dillon said the poitín makers gave him concepts and flavours which enabled him prepare his own brand. Most of Bunratty Potcheen has a 40% alcohol volume but the Potcheen the company sells in the US has a 45% volume.

The output of Potcheen from the Bunratty distillery has grown from 2,000 litres to 50,000 litres over the past six years.

And it’s a big winner with Irish Americans wanting a taste of Ireland long ago.

Mr Dillon said: “About 60 per cent of our Potcheen is for the US market.”

Another big seller in the US is the Meade made by the Bunratty company. This is the same product that is served at Medieval banquets in the nearby castle.

“We produce 350,000 litres of meade which we export to the US, Belgium, France and Britain. We’re now getting into the Japanese market with the meade which we sell in bottles and stonewall containers,” he said.