Founded in 2003 by three close friends Denis McCarthy, Ger McCarthy & John O’Connell in Union Hall, West Cork, Ireland; West Cork Distillers was inspired by the proud history of artisan food & beverage production in Cork. The trio had some experience of this in their previous occupations, as Ger & Denis were deep sea trawlermen and John was a research & development scientist for some large blue chip food & beverage companies.

WCD’s first forays into distillation weren’t with whiskey, however, but with lighter brown spirits. In 2007, the trio made Dromberg by fortifying the fermentation of sugarbeet and malt, before infusing oak shavings using a method developed by O’Connell in Dennis McCarthy’s garage in Union Hall. Lough Hyne followed this up, which was made by the same process but instead fortified up to 30 per cent alcohol, and matured with Irish and Bourbon cask oak.