Powers John's Lane Distillery Rehab
Posted by Irish Whiskey USA on
The Powers John's Lane Distillery was once the epicenter of Irish Whiskey in Dublin. Shuttered in the early 1970's, the former site is now the National College of Art & Design. Portions of the distillery including the Copper Pot Stills remain on the site surrounded by the College. Years of exposure to nature and human disrespect took their toll on the historical artifacts. This did not stop Irish Whiskey enthusiasts from visiting to see a piece of what once produced one of the greatest brands still enjoyed today.
Irish Whiskey Society America Members visited in May 2023 as part of the Dublin Group Trip. Timing is everything. Unfortunately for us, the site had begun a rehabilitation project which looks to refurbish years of neglect. This did not prevent us from enjoying a sip of John's Lane Single Pot Still as workers diligently restored the site.
I returned a few months later to check on the progress in late August 2023. Look at the before and after pictures to see the progress.
The stills have regained much of their original copper shine in the 5 month period. The copper pot stills had oxidized and turned green as can be seen in the original photo from May. Now, both the stills and brick work surrounding has been cleaned. As the project nears completion, this will make for a wonderful place to visit and reminisce about the former glory days of John's Lane. Take a look at the article below for more on the rehab project and history of the distillery.
The famous pot stills of Powers John's Lane Distillery are undergoing conservation as a heritage feature in the campus of National College of Art & Design
02.03.23
The famous Powers’ Distillery at John’s Lane may have closed its doors in 1975, but much of the historic fabric remains in place as the campus of National College of Art & Design (NCAD). Among its most distinctive features are three 19thC pot stills, now standing rather ignomiously at the edge of Red Square (the main public space of the college), but previously housed within the large Distilling House that was once the heart of the distillery.
John Power & Sons Distillery, known colloquially as John’s Lane Distillery, was among the most innovative of Irish whiskey distilleries. Founded in the 1790s by James Power, a local hosteller, the brand grew in prestige and remains one of the best know whiskey brands to this day. Considered the most technologically advanced facility of its day when it was substantially remodelled in the 1880s, among its innovations, Powers was the first distillery to bottle its whiskey on site, a game-changing innovation. Powers merged into Irish Distillers in 1966. In the mid-70s production relocated to Middleton in Cork and the distillery closed. In the 1980s, the site was repurposed to become a new home for NCAD. While many buildings were demolished (including the Distilling House itself), some notable features remain.
The pot stills were where the ‘wash’, made from malted and unmalted barley, was distilled – not once or twice, but uniquely three times as only Irish whiskey is, with over 33,000 gallons reduced to 3,000 gallons by each distillation. By the 1880s, John’s Lane Distillery was producing over 900,000 gallons of whiskey a year. One of the stills, known as Jack Still, had a capacity of 7,500 gallons and was specially constructed for Powers’ by Turnbull, Grant and Jack of Glasgow. It was in constant use in John’s Lane from 1888 until the closure of the distillery.
The setting of the three remaining stills is now much changed and they have been exposed to the weather for over 40 years, eroding brickwork and tarnishing the copper. Some limited repairs to the stills were made in 2016. The current work, which includes clearing much of the overgrowth around the stills and creating a new seating area, proposed to repoint brickwork and also to burnish up the copper covers. The work is being undertaken by specialist contractors EML Construction with support from Irish Distillers Ltd.
Once completed in early summer, the stills will be a high point of the self-guided Past | Present Tour of the Distillery, details of which you can find in Grey Square, just inside the main campus entrance at Thomas Street. While you are there check out the delicious lunch treats available at The Goodies.
You can take a look at the working distillery in the early 1970s, shortly before it closed, on this RTE Archive piece.
