The Freedom to Pioneer
Kinahans Irish whiskeys are made in wooden casks, which develop and complete all the complex flavours. By law the new-make spirit requires to be matured in wood for at least three years for it to qualify as Irish whiskey.
Kinahans whiskey making will often defy long-held stereotypes. An older whiskey is not always the better whiskey and age doesn’t necessarily contribute to maturity of flavour. Much more important is understanding the effect of wood, the way it is treated, how it will interact with the spirit, and how that will change over time, whether its 3 or 25 years. Get the right combination, and you will have a delicious, well balanced whiskey.
Since its foundation in 1779, at Kinahans pioneering in selection and use of wood is by far the key focus and the main gateway to what make Kinahans a great and unique whiskey for generations.
Since 1779
The Kinahans brand was founded on Trinity Street, Dublin in 1779 by Daniel Kinahan, who set out to do things differently. The brand began its epic saga, a journey through time and an odyssey across generations
Leading The Whiskey Evolution
1780 It is fascinating to think that today's rich, deeply complex and flavoursome glass of matured whiskey, originally was made and consumed completely differently. Known as moonshine (or Poitin) today, the original whiskey was a mere distillate, which was consumed as a raw colourless spirit with little character and a very rough taste. Maturation was not part of whiskey making process, let alone being as fundamental as it is today. The wooden casks, widely used for maturation today, originally had nothing to do with whiskey-making and have been invented and used for storage and transportation of all kinds of goods including metals and gold. With dozens of small and large factories distilling and selling whiskey on the Isle of Ireland at the time, Kinahans believed in a different kind of future for what whiskey should be. In 1980 Kinahans acquired impressive Vaults at Hamilton Row, Dublin, to enable it to store casks and mature whiskey. Built to the rear of No.11 Merrion Square, the Vaults became the epicentre of whiskey maturation, with Kinahans becoming one of the first whiskey brands to make and export only matured whiskeys.
The Unconventional
It's A Riot Of Wood
