Pelican Brewing Company and Irish distillery Clonakilty team up to release a one-of-a-kind Irish Whiskey.
When one conjures from their imagination the shores of Ireland, they probably are envisioning angry waves, violated by the cold Atlantic Ocean, crashing against jagged unforgiving rocks. Or are you one who sees a sweater-clad, bearded man, with a haggard-looking, yellow, waterproof coat, clambering off an old boat? To some extent this scenario might sum up life along the Pacific Ocean in towns like Anacortes, Washington, or Pacific City, Oregon. But it's where the Scully family call home: along the shores of the Celtic Sea, in County Cork Ireland.
With over 200 years or 9 generations of loyalty to the county, the Scully family are the recent owners of Clonakilty Distillery. An investment of $10 million, the Clonakilty Distillery has fast become one of the area’s (and Ireland's) notable family-owned distilleries. Powered by three copper kettles, the distillery is in town with their barrel house, a few miles down the road, rests with its back against the sea. Humble, the family would never boast too loudly, but if you were to seek their various distilled spirits, namely whiskeys and gins, you might consider them deserving of credit.
image courtesy Clonakilty Distillery
The distillery, like the family, remains provincial, which is why recently they have sought cooperation with craft breweries in the states. Like the Scully family values, they sought these breweries for their support of the independent craft spirit. In cooperation with breweries like New England Brewing, Revival Brewing, and 26 Degree Brewing, the distillery uses previous-use barrels used to barrel-age beers, to produce unique spirits. Upon release, Clonakilty Distillery shares with their cooperative brewery a gesture of thanks, in the form of a limited-edition whiskey. But the Scully family recognized they needed another brewery, who like them shared a love of the open shores. Enter Pacific City’s Pelican Brewing Company.
image courtesy Pelican Brewing Company
Brewed on the beach, near the Pacific Ocean, Pelican Brewing Company is a perennial brewery in the region and the county. A supporter of the outdoors and the local surf-and-turf goers, the brewery is one of the most-awarded breweries in the region, if not the country. Coupled with their location, the brewery shares a similar vibe as Clonakilty, their beers aging near the Ocean. Maybe this explains why Sean Scully, one of the future caretakers of Clonakilty Distillery, sought Darron Welch to make a whiskey from their barrel-aged beers. Thankfully, you don’t have to wait long.
image courtesy Pelican Brewing Company
Aged in barrels used to make the always-anticipated Mother of All Storms Barrel-aged Barleywine, Clonakilty Distillery is pleased to announce their latest Irish whiskey, made in cooperation with Darron Welch and Pelican Brewing Company.
“We chose to share a few select barrels from our Mother of All Storms program because the big malty richness of this barrel aged barley wine compliments and enhances the smooth rounded flavours of Clonakilty Whiskey,” says Darron Welch “Brewers are typically whiskey fans and we feel honoured to be a part of the collaboration and look forward to growing this intercontinental relationship.”
When asked why Clonakilty selected Pelican as their next brewery to produce an Irish whiskey, Sean Scully said.
“Pelican, there’s no question Pelican were the first people I wanted to approach with this opportunity. I knew the meticulous standards that they have for their beer so there was no doubt we would be able to produce an amazing end product by partnering with them. Their story is also so much in line with ours even though our businesses are located halfway across the world, it's a match that I couldn't have drawn up myself. Pelican being the coastal brewery, we at Clonakilty are the coastal distillery. We share so many wonderful similarities in both our appreciation for our surrounding maritime environment and willingness to protect it through sustainability efforts.”
Like Pelican Brewing Company, which donates a portion of proceeds of every barrel sold of select beers directly to the Salmon SuperHwy project, Clonakilty Distillery promotes sustainability either through its dairy program (which uses spent grains from the distillery), through sourcing (whether its local water or botanicals), giving back to the whaling community, or through reducing their overall environmental impact.
A near mirror of each other, the cooperation didn’t take long to grow into a roaring fire of coordination, with Pelican Brewing head brewer Daron Welch elated for the opportunity to work with Clonakilty’s head distiller to produce a whiskey aged in barrels that made Mother of All Storms. And the relationship doesn’t stop there. Owing to an ongoing relationship, Clonakilty intends to ship previous-use Irish whiskey barrels to Pelican Brewing Company, for the purpose of aging a barrel-aged beer. For now, the distillery hopes to continue making Irish whiskey from Pelican Brewing Company casks, as part of an ongoing relationship.
image courtesy Clonakilty Distillery
Available in Oregon, look for this unique (46% ABV) demonstration of cooperation between brewery and distillery, between two coastal towns, one in Ireland and one in Oregon.
