Episode 3 Ar Scáth na Sléibhte


Episode 3

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CORMAC SPEAKS IN GAELIC

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SEAGULLS CRY

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Noel, I have a confession to make -

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I've never been in a distillery before.

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If I had to imagine it, this is probably the way

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I would have imagined it. But this isn't the start of it, is it?

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No, not at all, this is the end of the distillation process,

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when we put the spirit into the casks for maturation.

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They have to lie here for three years

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before we can call them whiskey.

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Now, in Cooley, we make three different types of whiskey.

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We have a malt whiskey, which is just plain malt,

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and it gives us a very fruity type of whiskey.

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We have a peated malt, which has been dried using

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peat in the process. And that gives us a smoky flavour to the whiskey.

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And the third one is grain, and we use grain to give us

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a blending whiskey for a light character whiskey.

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And most of the character in that whiskey comes from the casks

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which you see here.

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Noel, you are a master distiller here in this distillery.

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What does a master distiller do?

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I am responsible for the liquid in the bottle that people

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get at the end of the day.

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The whole essence of the work that I do is about consistency, so you

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want to make sure you get the same raw materials coming in.

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We check the water, we check the barley, we check the malt,

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we check all of the ingredients that go into making the whiskey.

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-What I'm leading up to, of course, is can I taste of some of these whiskeys?

-Well, of course...

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-LAUGHTER

-...there's no point in coming to a distillery without

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having an opportunity to see what's involved.

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So we would look at something like the grain whiskey...

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This is the way it comes off the stills -

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clear - there is absolutely no colour in it at all.

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This sample is 69%. That's the strength it goes into the barrel at.

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So when we taste whiskeys at this kind of strength,

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we need to put them into a nice tasting glass. We add some water.

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Most of the tasting is coming from your nose, not from your mouth.

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That's why we use nosing classes to taste the whiskey.

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-So if you taste that, it's very mild, very light.

-Very light.

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That's the grain.

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There's not too much of an aftertaste.

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-No, there shouldn't be.

-It's very light.

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I'm wondering, is the location of this distillery accidental,

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or is there something about the local area here that adds

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a certain something to the quality of your whiskey?

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Everything about the distillery

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and where it is impacts on the final product.

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We are very fortunate that we have a very good water source

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in Slieve na gCloc,

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which is behind the distillery here.

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We're shadowed by the two mountains on either side, and this creates

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its own little microclimate where we would have a mild winter.

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So that gives us an extra couple of months, maybe,

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of maturation time that you wouldn't

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get in somewhere like the North Highlands of Scotland.

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GERRY SPEAKS IN GAELIC

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PADRAIG SPEAKS IN GAELIC

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EAMONN SPEAKS IN GAELIC

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Brendan, I come from a county not with a strong hurling tradition,

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but a strong tradition of bullets, where the idea was to cover

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a distance in the shortest number of throws.

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Is this the same sort of thing?

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Yeah, pretty much the same thing. The course is 5km around.

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It works its way around in a square.

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Rougher terrain, harder to get your feet, there is

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a different technique involved in getting

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around the mountain, but the same rules apply,

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I suppose, where the ball falls... Then you hit your next poc

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and the guy with the least amount of pocs around 5km gets the nod.

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Is it always held over mountainous terrain?

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It is. In the preliminary rounds, there is the provincial finals

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that are held, so each county would have their Poc Fada round piches,

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but the provisional finals now are held up on mountain ranges.

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Not too dissimilar conditions to this.

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It has really enhanced, I think, the brand of the Poc Fada

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because it gives the competitor the real experience

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of the mountain, because this is where the All Ireland final is on.

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One of the speeches earlier on specifically mentioned Cuchulainn

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poccing the ball over the mountain - is this a conscious part of the Poc Fada tradition?

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It is. That's where the history of it started.

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You can see in all the branded merchandise we have

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the Poc Fada and Cuchulainn is all across it,

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and I think it adds to the tourism part as well.

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Just to highlight that this is a very special place, you know?

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I think everybody up here is delighted

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to be part of a competition that

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has such long time and history,

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and obviously associated with the Cuchulainn part as well.

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So the state of play at the moment is that Eoin Reilly of Laoise

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is across the finish line in 58 pocs,

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-and the yardage I will find out in a while.

-Right.

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How many yards are here?

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-How many pocs to here? 50?

-50 pocs.

-About 50 pocs from here.

-Right.

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-It all depends on whether I can get home in eight pocs or not.

-Do you reckon?

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So God only knows, I suppose. You know? Could take seven,

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but we'll see what way it goes. It depends on the wind and there's

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a shower coming, so I want to get going before that comes in.

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Right, Brendan, good luck.

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Yes!

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-Congratulations. Well done. It was a close-run thing at the end, though?

-It was too close for comfort,

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if I'm to be honest. You know,

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when I got to the halfway point, I was one shot behind.

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When I got to the last quarter coming across,

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I was 30 yards behind.

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So I made up the ground. And Eoin Reilly and Andrew Fahey,

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who were second and third, ended up going into the ravine,

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and I - luckily - cleared it.

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And it's small things like that over 5km...

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LAUGHTER

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..that turns it and thankfully, 57 shots got me in first.

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The winner of the 2015 Poc Fada - Brendan Cummins, Tipperary.

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Has this set you up for another go next year?

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I'll come up into the mountains as long as I'm invited, you know.

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It's as simple as that. I think in life, if you're half good at something, you keep doing it.

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LAUGHTER

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No, I will, I will give it as many goes as I can.

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While it's nice to win

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and all that, even if I had come last up in the mountain today,

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I'd still like the challenge of it, you know? And just to see how good I can be around the place.

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So today, thankfully, it was one of those good days.

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