Ireland’s west coast city of Limerick once had a rich whiskey history renowned for its single pot still whiskey and there’s a local revival taking place. Sailor’s Home is one of the brands leading that resurgence. It’s named after a shelter built in the 1860s to accommodate an international community of seafarers travelling from Spain, America, and the Caribbean that passed through the port city.
Plans for a distillery are in the works, but right now the brand sources its whiskey from the likes of Cooley and Great Nothern Distillery to its own specifications. Sailor’s Home currently manages the wood programme and has an affinity for rum casks, using Barbados and rhum agricole barrels already.
The whiskey is overseen by the legendary Dr. Jack Ó’Sé. With more than 40 years of experience, he started back in 1979 by producing Irish cream liqueur at Ceimici Teoranta, but has since been to the US to commission and design pot stills for Alltech, worked on yeast production in Brazil and Serbia, guided Irish newcomers like Pearse Lyons, Achill Distillery, and The Burren Distillery, assisted expert coopers such as John Neilly, and even become a consultant tutor of whiskey. He has an MBA, BSc in biochemistry, and an MSc in brewing & distilling. In 2020, while in his seventies, he was awarded his Ph.D. in yeast production and fermentation.
Inside each nautically named bottling is a triple-distilled Irish whiskey presented at 43% ABV to avoid chill-filtration. The packaging has plenty of detail, demonstrating a desire for transparency (which in Irish whiskey that’s sadly still too lacking), as well as beautiful, bright, and distinctive labels.