Tyrconnell Heritage

The Region

'Tyrconnell' The Horse

Old Watts Distillery

Watt's Distillery

Andrew A. Watt's distillery dates back to the glory whiskey days in Co. Derry in the North of Ireland. Derry’s suitability for whiskey production on a major scale due to copious supplies of good clean water, excellent supplies of local barely and the Derry mills to grind malt left it put her in an advantageous position. Originally from Ramelton in Co. Donegal the Watt family first settled in Derry in 1762.

The Watt influence in Derry became substantial in 1839 when wine and spirit merchant Andrew A Watt bought the Waterside Distillery located in the Abbey Street area. One of the most significant decisions taken was to install the Coffey still, which was personally installed under Aeneas Coffey’s supervision. It proved to be a shrewd move as before long Abbey Street was the largest distillery on the island, capable of producing 2,000,000 gallons of whiskey a year. The firm focus on three main brands with Tyrconnell being their flagship brand.

The Tyrconnell was, before prohibition, on of the biggest selling whiskey brands in the US. Pre-prohibition photos of Yankee stadium in New York show Tyrconnell billboards in positions of prominence at the venue. Tyrconnell and Andrew A Watts enjoyed great success in the export sector. Sales in England, Canada, Australia, Nigeria, The West Indies and the US put Derry on the commercial map of the world. By the turn of the century Watt amalgamated his interest with two other Belfast distilleries to form United Distillers Company. Things worked perfectly leveraging on their economies of scale until conflict arose between UDC and Scottish giants DCL based in Edinburgh. This was the beginning of the end for the huge Derry operation and Andrew Watt was forced to close the doors in 1925. The brands remained dormant till 1988 when Cooley Distillery acquired this old brand and went on its way to bringing this historical Irish whiskey brand back to life.