The Green Distillery was an Irish whiskey distillery which was established in Cork City, Ireland in 1796.^[1] In 1867, the distillery was purchased by the Cork Distilleries Company (CDC), in an amalgamation of five Cork distilleries.^[1] Production of whiskey at the distillery likely ceased soon afters its acquisition by the CDC.^[1] However, the distillery is known to have remained in use a bonded store by the Cork Distilleries Company for several years thereafter.^[2] In the mid-twentieth century, the distillery resumed operations as a gin distillery for a period of time, however, it has since been almost completely demolished.^[1]

The distillery was notable for its use of an early continuous distillation apparatus, invented by the distillery's then co-owner, Joseph Shee.^[1]

History

The distillery began life on 12 May 1796, when two distillers, Robert Allan and Denis Corcoran purchased a dwelling house and maltings on North York Street (now Thomas Davis Street) from Bartholomew Foley, a draper.^[3] The malthouse had formerly been owned by Thomas Wood, a maltster, in 1780.^[3] In 1802, the Allan and Corcoran are recorded as working a 762 gallon still.^[3] In the years that followed, the distillery seems to have changed hands several times.^[1] Around 1812, the business was being run by two brothers, Thomas and Joseph Shee, Benjamin Hodges, and some others.^[3] Thomas Shee acted as the distiller working a 201 gallon still, while Joseph acted a marketing agent based in London.^[3] Hodges and the others may have been silent partners who provided capital but nothing else, as their connection with the distillery soon disappeared.^[3] Output was recorded at 100,000 gallons in 1828.^[1][4] In June 1830, the Shees entered financial difficulties, and ownership passed to Joseph Shee.^[3] Joseph continued operations using capital provided by James Kiernan under a mortgage, while Thomas Shee remained on as a distiller.^[3] In 1833, excise records show that the distillery paid a duty charge of £26,716, which equated to about 160,000 gallons proof.^[3] By 1835, Kiernan took outright control of the distillery.^[3] When Kiernan died in December 1844, his will specified that the distillery should be put up for sale.^[3] It was purchased on 27 July 1845 by George Waters, who was previously a co-owner of Daly's Distillery on John Street, until the dissolution of the partnership following the death of one of the partners.^[5][3]

Waters ran the distillery until his retirement around 1867, after which the distillery was purchased by the Cork Distilleries Company (CDC), in an amalgamation of five Cork distilleries.^[1][3] Under CDC, distilling ceased at the distillery in the 1880s, with production transferred to their nearby North Mall distillery.^[3] Subsequently, the Green Distillery was used as a bonded store for some time.^[2][3] However, in the mid-twentieth century, new equipment was installed in the Green Distillery, with production of gin occurring there for a period of time.^[1]

According to Irish Distillers, who absorbed the Cork Distilleries Company in the 1960s, a warehouse on the site was used to store whiskey in bond until the 1980s.^[1] Since then, the distillery has been almost completely demolished, with only a small archway remaining. However, one of original pot stills is still in use, currently employed as an experimental still at the nearby New Midleton Distillery.^[6]

Notability

The distillery was home to an early continuous distillation apparatus, was which installed and used at the distillery for almost twenty years.^[1] The apparatus, which the distiller's co-owner, Joseph Shee, patented in 1834, was similar to Jean‐Édouard Adam's 1801 design, and consisted of a four pot stills connected in series.^[7] Though thought to have been effective, the apparatus was not widely adopted.^[1] In particular, as a more efficient apparatus, the Coffey Still was patented by another Irish distiller, Aeneas Coffey, in 1830.