On poitín, the real spirit of Ireland
A conversation with Pádraic Ó Griallais from Micil Distillery where we talk poitín and all things Ireland.
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You know Jameson and Guinness. Hell, you’ve probably even tried to split the G by now. But do you know poitín? Probably not, which is a shame because I’d argue that poitín, not Irish whiskey or even Guinness, best captures Ireland’s soul. Its small pots over big industry, craft rooted in the Irish-language, and a stubborn, communal resilience shaped under imperial law.
A few weeks ago I saw that the new season of Eugene Levy’s travel show, The Reluctant Traveler, takes a trip to Ireland. During his visit, Eugene meets up with Pádraic Ó Griallais from Micil Distillery to try some poitín, the lesser known Irish spirit often referred to as “Irish moonshine.” I was excited to see poitín get some time in the spotlight because it’s a really fascinating spirit with an equally interesting story full of wars, smuggling, bogs, and good booze.
The first time I tried poitín I had to hide my reaction as I choked it back. I remember it was strong as hell, but of course I could handle it, I was a man. In reality I was 26 or so and armed with the idea of taste but not taste itself. But the story of poitín was intoxicating enough to keep me drinking it. Fast forward a few years and it goes down a little easier now, though I have a couple of grey hairs coming for me and my liver is sufficiently grizzled. Of course, it doesn’t hurt having one of the best distillers in Ireland pour you a few drams.
Last year on my annual Thanksgiving trip, I also interviewed Pádraic (sadly without the camera crew) who was kind enough to spare an hour or so to talk about poitín, Ireland, and a little bit of everything. Though poitín has been around since the 14th century, it had been illegal to distill in Ireland for over 300 years until 1997. In 2016, Pádraic and his brother Jimín opened Micil Distillery to share their generational knowledge and craft to revive the lost story of poitín. Since then, they’ve gone on to win awards for their poitín, gin, and Irish whiskey, establishing themselves as one of the best craft distilleries in Ireland.
Below is a transcript of our conversation, lightly edited for clarity, length, and organized into sections:
On Opening a Distillery
On Poitín
On Language
On Ireland
On Pubs
On Irish Whiskey
On Politics
On Opening a Distillery
Skylar: When I started looking into poitín and the story behind it, I came across Micil a few years back. You were one of the first to start distilling it again - you started this in 2016, is that right?
Pádraic: Correct, yeah, so the process started long before that. I would have been working in education and left that in 2015, and a very enjoyable career. But my sights were set on a family legacy, which was distilling poitín. It was a considered jump, it wasn’t just like one morning that I woke up and thought, oh, I’m going to make poitín legally - it was fairly carefully planned. No amount of planning anyway would prepare you for big steps like that. It’s been a journey.
