Alltech, a Kentucky-based company serving animal health and nutrition industry, has started the production of its first batch of Irish whiskey after deploying a craft distillery at its Carlow Brewing facility in Bagenalstown, Ireland.
To produce the whiskey, the distillery brought the Vendome pot stills all the way from Lexington, Kentucky.
The 100% malt whiskey is a product of malted barley, which is first milled and then sent to lauder tun to extract the converted starches, resulting in wort. This wort is added with yeast in a fermentor, where it is allowed to ferment for about 65 hours.
After fermentation, the liquid is then added to wash still and then in spirit still for condensation and purification. The resulted spirit is a colorless liquid with high alcohol content, which is then aged for three years to produce the whiskey.
Alltech president and founder Dr Pearse Lyons said their whiskey is 100% malt and made with only two other ingredients - water and distiller's yeast.
"As yeast technology forms a large part of our core business, we have developed our own distiller's yeast to use in the whiskey making process," Lyons added.
"Once the distillation process has finished, the whiskey will then be aged for three years in barrels from The Lexington Brewing and Distilling Company in Lexington, Kentucky, USA, home to Alltech's other spirit, the award winning Town Branch Bourbon. This way we will keep the Kentucky-Ireland connection alive."
