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Discover the story of Ireland's first farm distillery. Crafting award winning Irish whiskey, gin and poitín from field to glass in the heart of County Down, with excellence instilled in every drop.
The Echlinville Distillery in Newtownards is Ireland’s first farm distillery. We craft our spirits from the ground up, on land we have farmed for generations. Every drop is trickle pot distilled to perfection from barley sown, grown, harvested and malted by hand on our family farm.
Our barley crops are nurtured by the unique micro-climate of the Ards Peninsula. The area’s unique topography, temperate climate, rich soil and saline air have long been credited with making this place one of the finest grain growing regions in Ireland. Where better then to build Ireland’s first field to glass distillery.
Our premium whiskey, gin and poitín are distilled from barley that we malt the old fashioned way on the distillery malting floor. Every grain is repeatedly dampened, dried and turned by hand and shovel in the way our whiskey forefathers would have done. It’s hard work and it takes time, but we believe in doing things the right way rather than the easy way.
The heart of whiskey may be grain and oak, but the soul of any spirit is its connection to the place where it is made. We are proud of our roots in the Ards Peninsula and proud to be one of the first new whiskey distilleries in Ireland. That pride of place is the essence of everything we do.
The Echlinville stillhouse is the beating heart of our distillery. Home to the state of the art equipment that has been specially designed to allow us to produce the purest spirit imaginable. The still house has been built to showcase our beautiful copper pot stills and the statuesque column stills that are the jewel in our crown.
Creating an exceptional whiskey is all about time, and at our Irish whiskey distillery we give ours as much time as it needs. But at Echlinville, it’s not just about the time the whiskey spends in casks. It’s also about the time taken to distil. The slower the distillation, the better and sweeter our spirit. We are perfecting the art of ‘trickle pot distillation’ – slowing down the stills to achieve a gentle balance between complex character and delicate flavour.
Our cask warehouse is filled with the aroma of wood and whiskey as our Single Malt and Pot Still whiskeys age to perfection. And when it is ready, every bottle of Echlinville spirit is filled, labelled and packed by hand with the care and attention it deserves.
With Excellence Instilled from field to glass, we won’t compromise in our desire to produce the finest spirits.
The Echliville Distillery is located on the historic Echlinville Estate, at the heart of which stands the beautiful Echlinville Manor House.
The estate takes its name from the Echlin family. Once among the most influential families in Ireland, the Echlins arrived in the Ards Peninsula in 1613 when Robert Echlin, Church of Ireland Bishop of Down and Connor, founded a Church at the Abbacy Road near Portaferry. His great grandson, Captain Charles Echlin, purchased the Echlinville Manor House in the 1730s and established the 1,500 acre Echlinville Estate.
The stunning Grade B1 listed manor house was designed by architect Charles Lanyon, who also designed some of Northern Ireland’s most iconic landmarks including Queen’s University, Belfast Castle and Scrabo Tower.
The Echlinville Estate and Manor House changed hands several times throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In 2007 the house was purchased by Shane Braniff and his wife Lynn, who went on to establish the Echlinville Distillery and open a new chapter in the story of the Echlinville Estate.
