This article describing the distillery in Chapelizod appeared in Freeman’s Journal on 28th January 1875. The author mistakingly states that the premises were previously cotton mills – they were, of course, previously flax mills.
THE DUBLIN AND CHAPELIZOD DISTILLERY COMPANY (LIMITED).
We had on yesterday an opportunity of inspecting the great distillery concerns at Chapelizod belonging to this company, and now ready for the manufacture of whiskey on a most extensive scale. Some time since we gave a lengthened description of the premises when they were taken by the company, and commented on the great advantages which they possessed for the purposes to which they were to be applied, these premises, once so well known as “The Chapelizod Cotton Spinning Mills” and so closely identified with the public spirit and enterprising zeal of the late lamented William Dargan, who expended large sums of money in building and utilising vast water power by means of machinery of the most approved and excellent character. All these buildings, machinery, &c., were found to be in excellent condition, and capable of being applied to the purposes of a great distillery. The company commenced their work of reconstruction and adaptation on the 1st December 1874. Most extensive and comprehensive works, involving much outlay, care, and skill, had to be vigorously pushed on. This work, including extensive buildings and alterations, ponderous and complicated machinery, was designed and adapted by Mr. H. J. Alleyne, the chairman of the company, under whose personal supervision they have been brought to a prompt and successful completion. The Chapelizod Distillery now presents a vast pile of building, as solidly constructed as a fortress, and supplied with every requirement for the effective carrying out of a most important branch of trade on an extensive scale. The accomplishment of this object demanded much mature thought, experience, and an intimate knowledge of the means by which the structures, machinery, and other appliances already erected could be practically and profitably applied to the purpose which the company had in view. In our tour of inspection yesterday we were glad to perceive that all that had been done had been done well, and that the new buildings and machinery were each calculated to earn the high approval of all conversant with such matters. Amongst the new constructions a prominent place must be given to the two great worm tubs rising above the Lucan road in vast rotundity. These enormous vessels, which are each capable of containing 45,000 gallons, are at their base thirty-three feet above the level of the roadway and are furnished with plugs which, on being opened, would extinguish any fire which may arise on the premises commanded by their level in a few minutes. But the great curiosity of these two great “rotundos” is to be seen in their interiors, through which ramify the mighty copper worm tubes through which the vaporised spirit is to run in the process of condensing and cooling. Prominent in the building is the Dargan Tower surmounted by a huge tank, seventy-five feet above the foundation. This tank is kept constantly supplied with water, pumped up by the great water wheels which are alone sufficient to supply all the motive power required by the distillery in all its branches, and thereby causing a saving of fuel amounting to several thousand pounds in the year. From the tank above alluded to pipes are carried to all the various lofts and sections of the distillery, and in a moment, at any point where fire may break out the work of extinguishing can be easy of accomplishment. The still furnace chimney is an admirable structure in its order, and stands 92 feet high and 24 at its base. Amongst the structures recently built are the still-house, back-house, and kieve-house, which are all under one roof, and measure 163 feet in length and 65 in breadth. This building is most solidly constructed, and contains a vast amount of ingenious and costly contrivances for the effective manufacture of whiskey on a large scale. Ascending from the corn stores, on the ground floor, from whence vast masses of grain can be carried to the lofts above at the rate of two tons per minute, by means of patent lifts, we ascend to the mill loft, where five pairs of stones are ready to work, one pair for malt and four for corn, and capable of grinding from 100 to 150 tons per week. The milling process – the lifting, pumping, &c.– is to be carried on entirely by water power, never failing, and equal to 300 “horse,” which, without the aid of the two magnificent steam-engines on the premises, is capable of driving twenty pairs of millstones from one end of the year to the other. The upper tiers of lofts, capable of containing vast quantities of corn, are supplied with admirable contrivances for economising labour. By means of the “lifts” alluded to, the grain is brought to the upper loft, and is carried by means of shoots through all the phases of manufacture until it is fit to be used for the making of spirits. This plan has been admirably carried out, and gives a good notion of the care, skill, and forethought embarked in its construction. The arrangements for malting 10,000 barrels per annum on the premises are also excellent, and illustrate high-class constructive skill, experience, and careful supervision. The portions of the concerns which excited our attention most, were the interiors of the great worm tubs, their hundreds of tons of copper pipes, and the means adopted for economising heat by carrying back the water from the tubs at nearly boiling heat to the boilers. This contrivance alone will save twenty tons of coals per week. The still, back, wash, and kieve houses are wonders in their way. The three ponderous pot stills, from which ramify countless copper pipes and tubes, the twelve mightly tubs, capable of containing 20,000 gallons each of “wort,” and the mighty revolving kieves with all their appliances, are most worthy of inspection. The space at our disposal will only enable us to glance at the admirable contrivances for refrigeration, and again at the means adopted for saving fuel by carrying back the hot water to the boilers, and instead of allowing it to serve one brewing make it effective for a series of them. The corn kilns are also most ingenious for affectiveness and economy, as they are erected over the boilers, and thereby made to utilise a great amount of caloric in other places allowed to be lost. The distillery, which is now ready to work, is capable of producing 24,000 gallons weekly, and from what we learn the company will be at full work in the beginning of March. In the exterior sections of the vast concerns are to be seen the spirit stores, the bonded warehouses, the new gasworks, from which 300 lights through the concerns are supplied, the mercantile and Excise offices, the residences for the distiller and his assistants, the cooperage, &c. We have been only able to give an outline sketch of a great new concerns, which in every particular must be regarded as amongst the most complete of any of a similar character to be found in the three kingdoms, and which have been brought to their present state by the investment of large capital, most praiseworthy skill, and well directed trade enterprise.