Raise a Glass!

As the distillery enters into its final stages before commissioning, we wanted to take some time to welcome our new Head Distiller, Michael Walsh, to the distillery team. At 29 years of age, Michael is Ireland’s youngest head distiller and even though he is only in the first decade of his distilling career, he has achieved a large amount to date.

Having completed an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering, Michael went on to complete his General Certificate in Distilling in association with Hariot Watt University.

In 2012 he started his distilling career and quickly ascended through the ranks. In 2014 he received his first appointment to head distiller. It was in this role that he developed a plethora of different recipes across whiskey, gin and vodka that would saw him being recognised as one of the most decorated distillers in the country. With accolades such as ‘World’s Best Gin’ at the World Gin Awards, ‘Best New Whiskey’ at the Irish Whiskey Awards and a ‘Masters Award’ at the Spirits Business’ Ultra Premium Vodka Masters, Michael is one of the few head distillers in the country with global accolades across all the major categories of Irish spirit.

As such, we are delighted to welcome Michael to the team, where he has assumed the mantle of Head Distiller, here in Boann Distillery. Here he will be overseeing the production of all whiskey varieties, gin and apple brandy production, as well as flexing his sensory skills in the blending lab, where he will be perfecting some of our finest, future releases.

For now though, Michael is keeping himself occupied overseeing the pre-commissioning phase of the distillery. He is working with engineering teams from all over Europe to ensure that our state-of-the-art, automated distillery is in the finest working condition before the commissioning process begins in earnest, later in the year.

Keep an eye out for Michael in the distillery or his influence in some of the incredibly innovative receipes that we will be releasing in the coming years.