Irish whiskey named for Daniel O’Connell

Co Kerry-based Wayward Irish Spirits has released The Liberator Irish Whiskey ahead of St. Patrick’s Day.

The family company, located in Lakeview Estate, Killarney, was founded by Maurice O’Connell and his wife Francesca.

The O’Connell family has a long history in the spirits business, and Wayward Irish Spirits and The Liberator Irish Whiskey takes inspiration from this family tradition.

Their 100-acre estate was built in 1869 by Maurice’s great-great-great grandfather, James O’Connell, a younger brother of politician Daniel O’Connell.

Daniel O’Connell became known as the Liberator for his successful campaign to achieve Catholic emancipation in the 19th century.

Really proud to launch The Liberator Irish Whiskey today 29th February, Leap Year Day. The date was chosen in the hope that it will be as successful as my very clever decision to accept my wife's proposal on this day many years back. pic.twitter.com/uZLcgbT2AY
— Wayward Irish Spirits (@wayward_irish) February 29, 2020

“The Liberator Irish Whiskey celebrates the legacy of my forebear Daniel O’Connell, born in Kerry in 1775. His independent spirit and sometimes wayward approach inspires how we craft whiskey at our family’s historic Lakeview Estate on the shores of Lough Leane in Killarney,” Maurice told fft.

“Our Liberator range is sourced from some of Ireland’s finest distilleries and finished in our traditional 300-year-old stone bonded storehouse on the Estate. The inaugural release batch is a vatting of single malts sourced from different distilleries: 25% is a minimum of 13 years, the balance a minimum of 4 years. We practice a procedure called the ‘gentle cut’ whereby the Whiskey is cut from cask strength (about 61% abv) to bottling strength (46%) by adding spring water in stages over a period of about 5 weeks.”