Creating unique whiskey requires patience and vision, and sometimes we find ourselves on fantastically unreasonable adventures that border on the obsessive. This is one of those times. 

A few miles north of Cooraclare stand the magnificent Cliffs of Moher. This is a wild, special place—a testament to the relentless power and beauty of nature. On the brink of these cliffs, high above the crashing waves, stands a lone tower looking out to sea. This is O’Brien’s Tower, built two hundred years ago as a nobleman’s lookout. There’s no wilder place—nowhere more dramatically exposed along the hundreds of craggy miles of Wild Atlantic coastline.

J.J. Corry partnered with the stewards of this old Victorian Tower to answer an interesting question. What if we aged and finished a series of barrels of J.J. Corry spirit in Spanish Sherry casks up in the windswept tower? This is a whiskey journey full of stories, special places and interesting people.

Over 400 years ago an invading Spanish Armada was wrecked along this wild stretch of coastline. There are folk stories about the shipwrecks and survivors all along the western coast. The idea of casking Irish whiskey in Spanish wood above these cliffs holds so many resonances of history while also offering interesting flavour possibilities. 

We selected Single Malt, Single Grain and Pot Still whiskeys which have already spent 5 years in bourbon barrels on the McGuane family farm, and matched each whiskey to sherry casks which were carefully crafted by our partner, Rafai, a master cooper in Montilla, Spain. Montilla is a hilltop town in Andalucia known for its sherry and the pale dry light wine of its slopes where Casknolia, a family cooperage provides us with interesting, intense flavours to work with.

Each J.J. Corry whiskey is completed by the slow-acting, subtle forces of nature in this part of the World. The finishing process is heavily influenced by temperature, humidity, and barometric pressure, so exposing these casks to the endless wind, cold fronts and sea spray above the cliffs felt like a flavour adventure we had to take. This is the first time whiskey has aged in O’Brien’s tower so we are carefully monitoring these casks and when we deem them ready, they will be disgorged and bottled as a Single Cask Cliffs of Moher Whiskey.

We love driving past the tower on wild days, knowing our spirit is nearing the end of its journey up there on the cliffedge in O’ Briens Tower in Spanish casks. Let’s see where this whiskey goes.