The beginning…

Since owning the Slane Castle Estate, the Conyngham family have strived to launch new business ideas to help support the running of the estate. In the 18th Century William Burton Conyngham helped finance the building of the mill in Slane which at the time of its construction was one of the largest mills of its type in Europe. In more recent times, Henry, the Eight Marquess Conyngham launched the Slane Concerts in 1981 which has brought 80,000 people to Slane Castle to see some of world’s greatest recording artists perform in the natural amphitheatre in front of the castle.

In 2009, at the Oasis concert, Henry and his son Alex, The Earl of Mount Charles launched the Conyngham family’s latest venture Slane Castle Whiskey. The family have enjoyed Irish Whiskey for generations and one hundred years ago there were many family owned distilleries spread throughout Ireland. Today there are only four distilleries in Ireland and with Slane Castle Whiskey the Conyngham family is looking to resurrect the tradition of the family owned Irish whiskey.

Slane Castle Whiskey was carefully put together with Noel Sweeney, the Master Blender at the nearby award winning Cooley Distillery, Ireland’s only independently owned distillery. Alex Mount Charles worked with Noel on selecting the casks of single malt and grain whiskey to create the unique Slane Castle Whiskey blend. Getting the blend right was a long but enjoyable process in the end the choice of blend was narrowed down to three possibilities. Alex then took these three blends to his father Henry and his Grandfather Mount and after an enjoyable family evening the bottle with the least in it the next morning was chosen as the Slane Castle Whiskey blend. Three generations of the Conyngham family therefore chose the blend and in the near future the family also plan to launch a range of single malts.