Overview
The biggest copper pot still in the world holds 75,000 litres, and it lives here, on the edge of Midleton in County Cork. This is the largest producer of Irish whiskey on the island, with a capacity of 64 million litres a year and the entire Irish Distillers portfolio coming off its stills. The plant opened in 1975 to replace a cluster of older works, and in 2024 the visitor centre reopened as the Midleton Distillery Experience after a complete redevelopment.
A bit of history
Whiskey-making here goes back to 1825, when the Murphy brothers – James, Daniel and Jeremiah – bought a woollen mill built on the site in 1794 and turned it over to distilling. That became the Cork Distilleries Company. By the 1960s only three independent Irish distilleries were left; in 1966 John Power & Son, John Jameson & Son and the Cork Distilleries Company merged to form Irish Distillers, and a new plant rose beside the old one. Production moved across in July 1975.
A €200 million investment in 2010 doubled capacity and added the Garden Still House and a maturation warehouse in nearby Dungourney. The visitor experience reopened on 30 September 2023, with restored 18th-century buildings and reclaimed oak bar furniture made from an old bottling-plant vat. Then in October 2023 Storm Babet flooded the site and forced it shut; the main building reopened on 8 March 2024, fully restored. A further €250 million carbon-neutral distillery, announced in 2022 on a 55-acre site next door, is expected to add up to 100 permanent jobs.
What’s made here
Midleton is the production hub for Jameson, Redbreast, Powers, Midleton Very Rare, The Spot Whiskeys, Method & Madness and Knappogue Castle. Everything is triple-distilled in copper pot stills from a mix of malted and unmalted barley. The 75,000-litre pot still (31,618 gallons) is the largest in use anywhere. A smaller Garden Still House runs experimental casks, and the Dungourney maturation campus holds over 30 million litres in cask. Bottles distilled in 1974 have reached €35,000 at auction.
The tours
| Experience | What you get |
|---|---|
| Midleton Distillery Experience (flagship) | Face to face with the 75,000-litre pot still, led by Brand & Craft Ambassadors. |
| Behind-the-Scenes | The Cooperage, the Distiller’s Cottage and a maturation warehouse, where you draw and taste a cask-strength blend. |
| Discoverer Academy | Grain-to-glass production with hands-on sensory experiments before the production floor. |
| Midleton Cocktail Class | A 60-minute masterclass in the Kiln Bar: a Whiskey Sour, Old Fashioned and Jameson Punch. |
| Irish Whiskey Academy | One- to three-day courses for the public and the trade, running since 2013. |
If you’re choosing one, the flagship Experience is the crowd-pleaser that puts you in front of the giant still, but the Behind-the-Scenes tour – where you draw and taste your own cask-strength measure in a maturation warehouse – is the one to book if you actually care about the whiskey. Tours run about 75 minutes, take up to 15 people, and cost €30 for adults, €15 for 12-17s and free for under-12s when accompanied. Children must be supervised, and tasting components are for those 21 and over. Booking ahead is essential in summer; the last tour is at 4.30pm. The venue took Europe’s Leading Whisky Distillery Tour 2025 at the World Travel Awards.
On sustainability
The 2023 redevelopment cut electricity use by an estimated 80% by switching to LED lighting, and a new HVAC system improved efficiency further. Reclaimed oak from an old bottling-plant vat went into the Kiln Bar counters, and mechanical vapour recompression recovers waste heat, work that points the future distillery towards carbon-neutral operation.
Practical information
- Opening hours: 10am-5.30pm, last tour 4.30pm. Hours can shift seasonally; check before you go.
- Booking: advance reservation is essential, especially in summer. Tickets are sold online or on-site.
- Contact: +353 21 461 3594.
Nearby
Midleton is a good base for East Cork. A short drive north reaches the Ballycotton Cliff Walk, a 7.4 km coastal trail. The Roches Point Lighthouse at the mouth of Cork Harbour offers guided climbs to the east. The port town of Cobh, with its Titanic story and maritime museum, is about 15 km away.