Making Poteen in Donegal

£29.50

Around 1660, the English introduced a tax on distilled spirits. The Irish ignored the levy, continuing to make their drink in home and village stills throughout the country. In 1760, the English passed a law forbidding private, unlicensed production of distilled liquor and began to enforce the ten pence per gallon tax on poitin. The resulting fines caused great resentment among the populace. Farmers used the money derived from illegal sales of poitin to supplement their meager incomes and help pay their rents. This change in status (from tax evaders to outright outlaws) did little to slow what had become a major cottage industry. The pot-stills and barrels of fermenting mash or wash were moved from the house to the barn, to small shacks in the hills. Some set up operations in ancient cairnes and burial chambers. Others took their equipment to islands in the middle of lakes, the better to see the Police coming. One enterprising fellow even had his operation set up on a small boat on Lough Erne. For many years he was able to out-row the Police and thus evade capture. Slainte!

Additional Information