Tullamore D.E.W. is the second most popular Irish whiskey in the world. If that isn’t enough to make you want to take a Tullamore Distillery tour, then these cool things about the distillery tour will!
My boyfriend and I took the Tullamore Distillery tour during our whiskey trip through Ireland. I was excited for Tullamore because it’s completely different than the others we’d visited. We’d toured old historic distilleries, small unique distilleries, and big distilleries, but Tullamore is new and huge. Little did I know that the Tullamore Distillery tour would be completely unique — and awesome — for plenty of other reasons.
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5 Cool Things About the Tullamore Distillery Tour
How to Take the Tullamore Distillery Tour
First things first: Tullamore D.E.W. Distillery is about an hour-and-a-half drive from Dublin. It’s an easy drive, if you’re willing to drive on the left side of the road! If you don’t want to drive, this tour includes transportation from Dublin. Or the train gets you there, too. As always, I recommend booking a distillery tour in advance. (Here are more recommendations for planning a whiskey trip to Ireland.)
The original Tullamore D.E.W. Distillery opened in 1829 in the town of Tullamore, but closed in the 1950s. The whiskey, however, survived — it was made at the Midleton Distillery outside of Cork. Once Tullamore became more popular, the brand moved production back to the town of Tullamore, opening a new, shiny distillery in 2014.
1. The Tullamore Distillery Tour starts with Irish Coffee.
At the risk of sounding like an alcoholic, I admit I hate how most distillery tours make visitors wait until the end to taste whiskey. Not at Tullamore D.E.W.
The tour starts with a guide leading guests into a relaxing, living room-like space and immediately demonstrates how to make an Irish Coffee. Then she makes one for each guest and joins everyone on a couch to talk.
Starting the tour with a jolt of caffeine and a dose of whiskey is perfect. It perked me up after a long drive to get there while simultaneously relaxing me with some whiskey. I also loved the relaxing start to the tour, letting guests take a breather before taking in so much information.
2. The Tully Bus takes you to other parts of the distillery.
It’s hard to fully understand the size of large distilleries because guests usually only see the visitor’s center. But the Tullamore Distillery Tour shows visitors just how large their distillery campus is: it requires a bus to get around.
After walking through the shiny still and fermentation room, our guide took us outside and gave us fluorescent vests to wear. (Safety first!) Then we boarded an adorably tiny bus, dubbed the Tully Bus, for the next part of the tour.
The drive is only a few minutes, but it gives you a sense of just how much ground the distillery covers. The distillery covers 58 acres (!), and is one of the few in Ireland where all steps of the whiskey-making process are done on site. (That means milled, mashed, fermented, distilled, matured, and even bottled.)
3. You get to drink whiskey IN the warehouse.
The second part of the tour takes place in a warehouse. Being in a whiskey warehouse is a special treat by itself — the smell is indescribably fascinating. For me, being inside a whiskey warehouse is always a magical feeling. But drinking inside a warehouse takes it to a whole new level.
Our guide took us inside the warehouse of towering whiskey barrels. We were told to leave our phones and cameras near the door for the next part, so I don’t have photographic proof but you’ll have to trust me on its awesomeness. She took us to a tiny bar surrounded by a curved bench in the middle of stacked whiskey barrels. And then she grabbed a whiskey thief.
She proceeded to take the whiskey thief — a long, copper tube that draws whiskey from a barrel — and grab whiskey for us to enjoy. Right in the warehouse. It was the most wonderful surprise. (The whiskey, by the way, was a 7-year old single cask aged in ex-bourbon.)
4. The Tullamore Distillery Tour Tasting is in a fancy lab.
At the end of the Tullamore Distillery tour, the guide takes visitors back to the visitor’s center to a fancy room lined with bottles along the wall. If you look closely, the small bottles have handwritten labels — they are sample bottles used for blending.
Tullamore whiskey is unique in that three separate whiskeys are made, then blended together for the final product. (More on that below.) It takes a lot of expertise and experience to properly blend whiskey, and seeing some of the work behind it is amazing. If that’s not enough, then visitors get to taste the three whiskeys that make up Tullamore: single malt (provides the fruity notes), single grain (giving it sweetness), and pot still (provided spice).
5. There’s a Blend-Your-Own-Bottle in the gift shop.
Tullamore D.E.W. Original, their most popular whiskey, is a blend of three triple-distilled whiskeys: single grain, single malt, and pot still. They are aged in ex-bourbon barrels, ex-sherry butts, and refill barrels, creating a balanced flavor profile.
Blending whiskey is an art — and a very difficult skill to master. But if you want to try your hand at it, you can create your own, one-of-a-kind blend in the Tullamore gift shop. The screen asks prompts about your flavor profile, asking if you prefer sweet versus salty, things like that. Then it creates a whiskey that reflects that balance.
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The Tullamore Distillery tour is one of the most well-rounded, informative, and fun distillery tours I’ve been on. I highly recommend it if you’re nearby or in Dublin. (Book this tour for transportation from Dublin!)
Related :: How to Plan a Whiskey Trip to Ireland, the Ultimate Guide to Distilleries in Ireland, and What to Eat in Ireland
