MASH TUN TIME MACHINE

At the start of the 19th century there were more than 100 licensed whiskey distilleries operating in Ireland, all with their own mash bills (the ratios and types of grain used to make spirit – typically malted and unmalted barley, oats, wheat, or rye.)

When the industry reached the depths of its decline in the 20th century, only two Irish distilleries remained, each making just a handful of whiskey styles. Gone were the oats, wheat and rye. The dynamic variety that Irish whiskey had been known for was quelled forever, or so it seemed.

Out of the blue, one man made it his mission to track down as many of these extinct mash bills as possible, and a distillery gave him the chance to resurrect these ghosts as drinkable whiskey. Fionnán O’Connor was a student of medieval literature and history at Trinity College, Dublin, when his passion for Irish whiskey began to take over his life. Perhaps it was the time living