Slane Distillery

Slane Distillery sits in the restored 18th-century stable yards of Slane Castle, in the village of Slane, County Meath, Ireland, on a 1,500-acre estate in the Boyne Valley roughly 30 miles north of Dublin. It is the source of Slane Irish Whiskey, a triple-casked blended Irish whiskey, and it is the first distillery Brown-Forman has built outside the United States.

History & Heritage

The Conyngham family has held Slane Castle and its estate for generations. The whiskey project began in 2009, when father and son Henry and Alex Conyngham set out to create a whiskey rooted in the estate under the Slane Castle Irish Whiskey name, at first blending stock bought from other Irish distilleries. In 2015, Brown-Forman, the Louisville, Kentucky company behind Jack Daniel's, acquired the Slane brand and committed a $50 million investment to build a working distillery on the grounds, breaking ground that September. Construction converted the castle's roughly 250-year-old stables into a modern distillery, which opened in 2017, with the first cask filled that September. As of July 2026 the distillery is owned by Brown-Forman, and the business remains a partnership rooted in the Conyngham family, with Alex Conyngham a continuing public face of the brand and Dr. Gearoid Cahill, who joined in 2019, appointed the distillery's first master distiller in 2022.

The Whiskey

Slane Irish Whiskey is built on two ideas the distillery calls triple distilled and triple casked. The whiskey is triple-distilled on site through three hand-beaten copper pot stills and six column stills, so Slane produces its own new-make spirit rather than only bottling. Water comes from the River Boyne, which runs through the estate, and the barley is 100% homegrown Irish barley, much of it grown on Conyngham family land surrounding the distillery. After distillation, the whiskey is matured in three separate cask types: virgin oak casks (giving toasted oak and vanilla), seasoned casks that previously held Tennessee whiskey (contributing caramel and butterscotch notes), and Oloroso sherry casks (adding raisin and spice). The virgin and seasoned casks are raised at Brown-Forman's own cooperages. The matured whiskeys from all three cask types are then blended to make the flagship Slane Irish Whiskey, the expression carried in The Sentinel Room's Reserve Whiskey Library. The distillery has also released other expressions under the Slane name, including Slane Extra Sherry Wood, bottled at 45% ABV against the core blend's 40% ABV.

Why It Matters

Slane is a clear example of a heritage estate and a large international spirits company building a whiskey together, pairing the Conyngham family's land, water, and barley with Brown-Forman's cooperage supply and scale. The triple-casked approach, drawing seasoned barrels from Brown-Forman's Tennessee whiskey and bourbon production alongside Irish-grown barley and Oloroso sherry wood, gives the blend a recognizable profile that spans traditions. In June 2026, Brown-Forman announced it was pausing new-make production at Slane for a period it described as the next number of years, citing softer demand across the whiskey category. As of July 2026 there is no interruption to the availability of Slane whiskey and the distillery remains open to visitors. For a guest at The Sentinel Room, Slane Irish Whiskey offers a straightforward way to taste how three cask types combine in a single Irish blend.

Visiting the Distillery

Slane Distillery offers guided tours of the working distillery by private and group booking. The signature tour walks through the triple distilled and triple casked method, includes a guided tasting of the Slane Irish Whiskey blend and the Slane Extra Sherry Wood release, and finishes with a Slane Whiskey highball. Visitors must be 18 or older to book.