Exclusive Supporters Live Event April 2nd at 19:30 IST/GMT, 14:30 EST, 11:30 PST
“A man threw a sack of oats, or a sack of barley, into a ditch, and let it lie there all night, and afterwards had it dried with turf, which gave a smoky flavour to the spirits, and those spirits were in great estimation in the northern parts of Ireland.”
James Jameson, 1842
The plague of Revenue officers and tax paying distilleries alike, illegal homemade poitín lies at the very heart of the Irish distilling story. Inseparable from the origins and course of its commercial sibling, Ireland’s misunderstood illicit alcohol has also had a complex history all its own. At its height in the 1810s, it was estimated to account for two thirds of the total spirits distilled in Ireland and even today, sure we all know someone… Whether we acknowledge it, disown it, or slip it under the table, poitín is ours— and it’s been a part of Irish lives for quite some time.
On April 2nd at 19:30 IST/GMT, we have the second of our 2024 Online Hedge School events exclusive to our kind Supporters, covering the history of poitín as a social history and as a changing material beverage – from the peated malts of nineteenth century Inishowen to the diverse and sugar-stained mashes of the modern day. Keeping poitín’s gift for mythology at arm’s length, we’ll be drawing from an extensive archive of first-hand gauger testimonies, eye witness accounts, and distiller confessions to weave together a history of Irish grassroots distilling as a history of flavours, practices, and basic raw materials.
Real illegal mash bills, regional practices past and present, on the ground testimonies of the spirit’s changing tastes—we’ve a lot of ground to cover in what we honestly hope will be the most comprehensive public talk on poitín’s history in recent times. And we’ll end the night with the story and reveal of a very special project with Killowen Distillery made entirely possible by Créatúr’s kind supporters. On the night, Fionnán will be joined by Brendan Carty, ethnomusicologist Dr. Padraig Mac Aodhgáin, and guest MC Francis Leavey, founder of the Poitín Now festival and general champion of the quare stuff.
This live online event takes place on Tuesday April 2nd at
19:30 IST/GMT (Dublin/London), 14:30 EST (New York), 11:30 PST (LA)
As with all Hedge School events, booking is reserved for Créatúr’s Supporter community. If you haven’t joined up you can sign up here as a Créatúr Crowdfunding Supporter.
Supporters check your email for event announcement and registration information or contact us here…
