Kilbeggan Distillery Experience
It's the whiskey (the Irish spell their traditional tipple with an "e") that brings most people to the unassuming little town of Kilbeggan, home of the Kilbeggan Distillery Experience, the oldest pot-still distillery in the world and the last of its type in Ireland. Established in 1757, it closed as a functioning distillery in 1954, but has since found new life as a museum of industrial archaeology, illustrating the process of Irish pot-whiskey distillation and the social history of the workers. The distillery's original old stone and whitewashed buildings have been carefully tended, and the glorious timber waterwheel has been restored and repainted and is now creaking again. Multiple different types of tours are available. The one-hour Apprentice tour (€15) includes tasting three whiskeys; on the 90-minute Distillers tour (€30), you get to taste all four Kilbeggan core brands: Kilbeggan single grain, Kilbeggan Irish whiskey, Tyrconnell single malt, and Connemara peated single malt.
If you're looking for a present, the new Kilbeggan single pot-still whiskey—launched in December 2019 at €60—is soft and mellow with citrusy summer fruits, or you could opt for handmade dark chocolate whiskey truffles or fudge in the shop.
