Echlinville and Dunville's

Type: Distillery and brand

On 5 August 2013, Echlinville filled its first whiskey casks in County Down.[1] Echlinville also revived Dunville's, a much older whiskey name whose Belfast history takes in wine merchants, a railway siding and the substantial Royal Irish Distilleries. The modern distillery stands near Newtownards on the Ards Peninsula; the historic works belonged to Belfast.[1][3]

What Echlinville and Dunville's are known for

Echlinville brings farming, malting and distilling together on one estate.[3] It calls itself Northern Ireland's first “field to glass” farm distillery, a claim also reported by Oxford Wine Company.[8]

Dunville's brings a history of wine and spirit merchants, a substantial urban distillery and connections to Belfast's sporting and public life.[1] Its revival joins a historic name to a new distillery, rather than continuing an unbroken history of production. For another Irish distillery profile, see Bushmills.

The distinction is useful when reading a bottle: the Dunville's name identifies the revived brand, while The Beginning is specifically recorded as whiskey from Echlinville's estate.[3]

From a County Down estate to a distillery

The house came long before the whiskey. The producer's estate history records Bishop Robert Echlin founding a church near Portaferry in 1613. In the 1730s, Captain Charles Echlin bought the manor house and established the estate.[3] These are landmarks in the history of the place, rather than early dates for distilling.

Designed by Charles Lanyon, the manor house is Grade B1 listed. Shane and Lynn Braniff bought it in 2007, opening the modern chapter of the estate's distilling story.[3] The old house and family name give Echlinville historical depth; the distillery itself belongs to a much more recent period.

According to the producer, Echlinville received its licence in 2013 and became Northern Ireland's first new distillery for more than 125 years.[3] On 5 August that year, the first whiskey casks were filled.[1] That is the decisive production milestone: whiskey laid down in cask, distinct from an acquisition or a brand announcement.

Farming, malting and the estate whiskeys

Barley grown on the farm is malted by hand on the distillery's own floor, according to Echlinville's production account.[3] This is the practical substance of its “field to glass” description: work on the estate feeds directly into whiskey production. It describes a production practice, not a flavour.

The distillery uses copper pot stills and column stills. Echlinville describes part of its practice as “trickle pot distillation”.[3] This is the producer's own terminology, rather than a substitute for published operating measurements or an indication of a particular flavour across associated brands.

The estate's major release milestone came in 2024. The Beginning introduced single malt and pot still whiskeys from Echlinville's own estate.[3] These releases mark the estate's whiskey production, distinct from both the historic Dunville's business and the revived Dunville's range.

Echlinville's production and release timeline

First casks, brand launches and changes at the estate mark different stages of Echlinville's development. This timeline follows the producer's history, recording milestones rather than current production volumes or visitor access.[1][3]

The Dunville's revival preceded The Beginning's separate estate whiskey milestone in 2024. The differing accounts of the revival date are set out below.[3][5]

Dunville's Belfast beginnings

On 11 October 1808, an announcement in the Belfast Commercial Chronicle named Napier and Dunvill as wine and spirit merchants at 13 Bank Street, according to the producer's account.[1] A family historian places the partnership six years after 1801 and spells the surname Dumvill.[8] The date and spelling differ, but both accounts concern a merchant business, before the opening of the later Royal Irish Distilleries.

In 1825, John Dunvill bought out his partner and the firm became Dunville and Company.[1] This progression from wine and spirit merchants to a whiskey business is central to the name's history. Its roots lie in Belfast commerce, not the modern County Down estate, and those early trading dates describe the business rather than the start of distillation.

Story box: A whiskey firm's place in Belfast

Verdict badge: Documented

Claim: Distillery Football Club grew out of the Dunville's company.
What the record shows: The supplied fact sheet records the club's foundation in 1880 and classifies the connection as Documented.[1]
Evidence against or gap: The source extract does not identify the earliest underlying historical document.
Earliest known source: Not established from the sources checked.
Sources: Echlinville Distillery, Our Story, undated producer account, checked November 2026.[1]
Last checked: 7 November 2026.

The Royal Irish Distilleries and their closure

Five pot stills, a Coffey still, 16 washbacks, four malting floors and a railway siding: the producer's inventory gives a sense of the scale of Dunville's Belfast works.[1] The Royal Irish Distilleries were built beside Great Victoria Street station in 1869, according to the trade history.[8] This was the historic urban distillery, quite separate from Echlinville's present equipment and County Down setting.

Distilling stopped in 1935. The directors liquidated the firm in 1936.[1] Yet the trade history says the business was still trading at a profit when it was liquidated.[8] The liquidation therefore cannot simply be explained as the failure of an unprofitable distillery: the reported trading performance points to a different picture.

The buildings found another use before disappearing. A tobacco firm occupied them in the 1950s, and they were demolished in the 1980s for the M1, according to the Dumville family history.[6] Dunville's survives as a revived name, but the Belfast distillery buildings do not.

The revival and the names on today's bottles

Verdict badge: Disputed

Claim: Shane Braniff revived Dunville's in 2012.
What the record shows: The producer dates the revival to 2012; Wikipedia gives 2013.[3][5]
Evidence against or gap: The revival year remains unresolved.
Earliest known source: Not established from the sources checked.
Sources: Dunville's Irish Whiskey, Home; Wikipedia, Dunville & Co, both checked November 2026.
Last checked: November 2026.

Single malt and vintage blend are the descriptions recorded for the modern Dunville's range.[6] Echlinville added the Dunville's Single Cask Series in 2019.[3] These names distinguish parts of the offering, rather than establishing a shared production history for every release.

Old Comber brings another historic name into Echlinville's story. Its revival is recorded in 2021, followed by an Old Comber Single Pot Still release in 2025.[3] It remains distinct from Dunville's. Both are associated with Echlinville, but each carries a separate historical identity.

Common mistakes

Putting Echlinville in Belfast. Dunville's roots are in Belfast; Echlinville is near Newtownards on the Ards Peninsula in County Down. The shared story connects the places without making them the same location.[1][3]

Assuming the Royal Irish Distilleries still stand. Dunville's is a revived brand, not a restored Belfast distillery. The historic buildings were demolished in the 1980s.[8]

Calling the 1936 liquidation proof that Dunville's was unprofitable. Closure alone does not explain trading performance. The trade account says the business was still trading at a profit when it was liquidated.[8]

Where to go next

• Bushmills: explore another distillery profile in the Irish whiskey guide.
• Teeling: discover a separate distillery and its associated whiskey name.
• Powerscourt and Fercullen: follow another paired distillery and brand profile.

Sources

1. Echlinville Distillery. Our Story. Undated web page, producer's account, checked November 2026. https://echlinville.com/our-story/
2. Dunville's Irish Whiskey. Story. Undated web page, producer's account, checked November 2026. https://dunvilleswhiskey.com/story/
3. Dunville's Irish Whiskey. Home. Undated web page, producer's account, checked November 2026. https://dunvilleswhiskey.com/
4. Wikipedia. Dunville & Co. Revision identifier not supplied, checked November 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunville_&_Co
5. Dumville family history site. The Dunville Family and Dunville's Whisky. Undated web page, checked November 2026. https://www.dumville.org/whisky.html
6. Oxford Wine Company. The Echlinville Distillery. Undated trade account, checked November 2026. https://oxfordwine.co.uk/owc/the-echlinville-distillery/

This article was prepared as desk research from the supplied verified fact sheet and its listed sources, without a site visit or recorded tasting.

Last checked: November 2026