“The Tyrconnell” is a historic brand of whiskey that the Cooley Distillery has revived.
Previously owned by the Watt Distillery, which dates back to 1762. The Watt family had a proud tradition of producing good whiskeys, and also a love for horse racing.
The Tyrconnell was their flagship brand, and is named after a very successful racehorse owned by the Watt family.
This historic whiskey brand has been kept alive by Cooley, who has maintained the Tyrconnell reputation as shown by its recent Gold Medal wins.
In 1876, the Watt family entered a horse, a chestnut colt, named "The Tyrconnell" in the Irish Classic horse race "The National Produce Stakes".
Incredibly, it won at 100 to 1.
This spectacular achievement inspired the Watt Distillery to celebrate the occasion with a special commemorative Tyrconnell label showcasing the horse, which remains in use to this day.
Because the Cooley Distillery is Ireland's only independent distillery, the company had room to experiment with . They decided to put some 10 year old Tyrconnell into sherry, port and Madeira casks. The result was the Tyrconnell Finishes. The Tyrconnell Madeira finish won Jim Murray's Best Irish Whiskey of 2008 in his acclaimed whiskey bible. The single cask is a cask of exceptional quality picked by the Master Distiller. At the moment the majority of Tyrconnell single casks are 15 years old.