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Lough Ree Distillery is a family business, located in our hometown of Lanesborough, in Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands.
It’s a simple story – 3 siblings with complementary skillsets following careers in Business, Engineering and Finance decided to go into business together, embarking on what continues to be a remarkable, sometimes challenging, journey.
We’re passionate about what we do, and we remain united in our vision – “Bringing to the world, from our hometown, the finest & most highly regarded Irish Spirits ”
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We're often described as a hidden gem - book now to experience why with your friends.
15€
Distillery Tour and Tasting
A short tour of our distillery, including a tasting of our award winning Sling Shot Gin, Zesty Vodka and Barts Irish Whiskey.
25€
Exclusive Whiskey Tasting
An indepth experience for the Whiskey lover featuring a flight of 6 of our favourite whiskies.
25€
Exclusive Gin & Vodka Tasting
For the white spirit lovers, we have some deliciously flavoursome Gins and Vodkas to stimulate your senses.
Bespoke
Experience
FROM From € 30
Craft your own tasting experience to suit your group size, location, schedule and budget. We're quite flexible and can accommodate most requests.
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Our Products
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Bart’s Range Bart’s Range
(3 Products)
The Bridge Series The Bridge Series
(6 Products)
Sling Shot Irish Gin Sling Shot Irish Gin
(1 Product)
The Founders Series The Founders Series
(3 Products)
The Founders Series The Founders Series
(3 Products)
Opening our Microdistillery
While planning a much larger commercial distillery , in 2018 the opportunity arose to set up at Microdistillery scale in an old butchers shop right in the middle of Lanesborough.
We jumped at this and in the space of a few short months had a fully licensed and
functioning distillery set up.
Launch of Sling Shot Distilled Irish Gin
We commenced distilling at the end of August 2018, and launched our first product – Sling Shot Distilled Irish Gin, at the Taste of the Lakelands Food Fair in Lanesborough in October 2018.
In doing that we became the first distillery ever to distil peat as a botanical in gin, giving Sling Shot its distinguished rich , earthy and mellow mouthfeel.
Launch of Zesty Citrus Vodka
At the Taste of the Lakelands Food Fair in 2019, we launched Zesty Citrus Vodka. An absolutely amazing product.
While we were a little surprised when it won Best Irish Vodka at the Irish Whiskey Awards in 2019, we weren’t at all surprised when it won that award again in the first post Covid hosting of the same competition in 2022.
Launch of The Bridge Single Cask Whiskies
Since the start of our journey, several years before we opened our distillery , we’d been sourcing some fantastic whiskey and exceptional casks to finish it in. Late 2019 saw the release of the first 2 Whiskies under The Bridge single cask series – Tus Maith, followed by An Dara.
The best laid plans…
2020 was supposed to be the year our business took off. Instead, Covid happened and took us on a path we’d could never have envisaged.
March 2020 saw us pivot into producing Hand Sanitiser, followed by inventing a Hand Sanitiser Dispenser.
We tapped into the trend for “ at home “ activities with our Gin School at Home kits, and then embraced e-commerce and selling online as this was literally the only market open to us.
And through all of that that we became a little more grounded and a lot more resilient.
Closing out 2021…
The world started to return to some semblance of normality towards the end of 2021. Notwithstanding, 2021 was still a busy year for us with:
- The opening of Distillery Yard Coffee Shop on our main site in Summer 2021
- The launch of our Bart’s Blended Irish Whiskey towards the end of 2021.
A first in 175 years
We will look back in time as 2022 being a milestone year for our business as this saw us distil our first whiskey. Our research indicates that this was the first whiskey distillation in Lanesborough since the 1780’s – the first legal one at any rate.
The Founders Series
We still found time to refresh the branding and complete our portfolio of small batch Gins and Vodkas under The Founders Series.
More Whiskey please…
While continuing to release single casks under The Bridge label, in 2024 we enhanced our Whiskey portfolio with:
- The development and addition of two new variants of our Bart’s Whiskey. Using the same 5 Whiskies, we reformulated the blend recipe, not once, but twice, to give us two additions to the Bart’s range: Barts XS – a sherry dominant blend and Barts XP – a peated dominant blend.
- The development of Hidden Heartlands Irish Whiskey, an easy drinking and mellow pouring whiskey
ecoSPIRITS rollout
This year also saw us become the Licensed Operator for the island of Ireland for ecoSPIRITS, a closed loop circular economy system for the delivery of spirits.
The system has a wide array of benefits for brands and venues alike in terms of sustainability, waste reduction and cost efficiency.
The Bridge Milestones …
Our Single Cask releases under The Bridge Series have been one of the mainstays of our business since 2019. In 2025 we achieved a number of significant milestone with The Bridge:
- An ambitious exclusive collaboration with The Corkscrew , releasing 3 casks in a single release, named surprisingly The Corkscrew No.1, The Corkscrew No. 2 , The Corkscrew No.3.
- Our 39 th release under The Bridge Series – Portaneena
- The first Pot Still release under The Bridge in our own name – Blenavoher
ecoSPIRITS success
ecoSPIRITS has continued to go from strength to strength, with a significant increase in volumes across Vodkas Gins and Whiskies, and adoption in some key accounts such as O’Donohue Ring Collection in Killarney and Ryans of Camden Street.
The tasting experience at Lough Ree Distillery was phenomenal! From the smooth whiskey to the refreshing gin, every product showcased true craftsmanship. The staff was incredibly friendly and knowledgeable, making our visit unforgettable. Can't wait to return for another round of incredible drinks and great company!
Lough Ree Distillery exceeded my expectations! The whiskey had incredible depth, and the gin was so refreshing. The team was friendly and made the experience fun and engaging. A must-visit for anyone who enjoys high-quality Irish spirits!
The tasting experience at Lough Ree Distillery was phenomenal! From the smooth whiskey to the refreshing gin, every product showcased true craftsmanship. The staff was incredibly friendly and knowledgeable, making our visit unforgettable. Can't wait to return for another round of incredible drinks and great company!
The tasting experience at Lough Ree Distillery was phenomenal! From the smooth whiskey to the refreshing gin, every product showcased true craftsmanship. The staff was incredibly friendly and knowledgeable, making our visit unforgettable. Can't wait to return for another round of incredible drinks and great company!
DRAG 
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