The buildings of the Midleton distillery began life rather abstemiously; used as a wool mill in the very late eighteenth century. Leased by Marcus Lynch, the buildings were sold to the government, who subsequently sold them to the Arch Bishop of Cashel in 1823 for the sum of £1,750. The Arch Bishop died later that year and the buildings were inherited by Lord Midleton. It was the three brothers Murphy who converted the mill into a distillery in 1825. They had acquired the buildings for £4,000. Stills were installed, including the world’s largest still with a capacity of 31,618 gallons. The distillery produced a range of brands and in 1966 the company joined John Powers and John Jameson to form the Irish Distillers Group and a new distillery was built at Midleton to produce their brands. The new distillery has a capacity of 19m litres annually and the Old Midleton distillery has been preserved for posterity.