Knappogue Castle Whiskey

Knappogue Castle Irish whiskey is named for the eponymous historic castle in County Clare, originally built by Clan MacNamara in 1467. In 1966, Mark Edwin Andrews purchased Knappogue Castle, which at that point was in ruins, and it was his wife Lavone, a prominent architect, who restored it to its former glory. During this time, Andrews also began buying casks of pot still whiskey, and these were aged under what was to become the Knappogue Castle label. Andrews’ last bottling was very rare 1951 vintage aged for 36 years. However, in 1998 his son Mark Andrews III made the 1951 whiskey available to the public, and in 1999 the brand introduced a new range of single malts. The brand now continues to source its whiskey from other distilleries, such as the Cooley distillery.