Dublin is often considered to be the historical powerhouse of Irish whiskey production, but the north has had its fair share of significant distilleries, too. Indeed, the whiskey output of Belfast in 1901 was 6.7 million gallons (30.45 million litres), which equated to 75 per cent of the overall Irish whiskey market. By the late 19th century, Dunville’s vast Royal Irish Distilleries on Falls Road in Belfast was responsible for 2.5 million of the total 14 million gallons (63.6 million litres) of whiskey being produced in the whole country.
Dunville’s fell silent in 1935, and for many years, only Bushmills – dating back to the late 18th century – was making whiskey in Northern Ireland. But just as new distilleries have sprung up across the Republic, so the north has also seen major positive changes to its distilling landscape, with prevailing Irish whiskey legislation applying to the whole of the island.
The largest and most recent new northern distillery is Bushmills’ Causeway facility, which opened in April 2023. Positioned adjacent to the existing Bushmills site, it was constructed from basalt and limestone at a cost of £37 million. Causeway doubles potential annual production to 11 million litres and contains 10by 30 per cent. Legal distillation in the Bushmills area can be traced back to 1608 and the brand has been enjoying significant success in recent years, not only with its core blends and single malts but with its ongoing Causeway Collection of ‘finished’ cask-strength malts. This year has also seen 25- and 30-year-old expressions added to the core range.
