Irish Distillers, 1966 and the New Midleton Distillery
Irish Distillers brought John Power and Son, John Jameson and Son and Cork Distilleries Company together in 1966, pooling their resources after decades of contraction in Irish whiskey. The new Midleton distillery followed in 1975, concentrating production beside the old Cork distillery rather than simply enlarging one of the Dublin works. [1][7]
Why Irish Distillers came together in 1966
The merger joined three firms with different histories: John Power and Son dated from 1796, John Jameson and Son from 1810, and Cork Distilleries Company from 1867. Those are the firms’ founding dates given by The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails, not interchangeable dates for their distillery buildings or brands. [1]
The immediate background was a diminished industry. Richard Woodard’s history of Dublin whiskey records that only five distilleries remained in the Irish Free State by the early 1930s, two of them in Dublin. For the 1940s and 1950s, he quotes an industry voice describing Irish whiskey as “clinging on by its fingernails”. [7]
According to the Oxford Companion, the directors decided to cut their costs radically by joining forces as Irish Distillers Limited in 1966. Jameson's account says Aleck Crichton, chairman and managing director of John Jameson and Son, oversaw the amalgamation. [1][4]
That makes this a particular chapter within Irish whiskey’s rise, fall and revival, rather than a complete account of the category’s recovery. The question here is how consolidation changed the physical organisation of production, and why Midleton became the centre of that change.
Midleton before the new distillery
Midleton already had a substantial distilling history. Irish Distillers’ own account dates its establishment by the Murphy family to 1825 and its incorporation into Cork Distilleries Company to the local amalgamation of 1867. The new plant therefore arrived beside an existing distillery, not in a place newly introduced to whiskey making. [3]
The buildings had earlier uses, too. Amy Nolan’s history for Echo Live describes the site first as a woollen mill and then as a military barracks. Those successive uses help explain why “old Midleton” means more than an earlier arrangement of whiskey equipment: it is a site with several distinct working lives. [6]
Among its surviving objects is an enormous pot still, reported by Echo Live as holding 143,600 litres and remaining in use until 1975. The same report repeats the site’s claim that it is the world’s largest pot still. Its scale is striking, but the significance for this story is its connection with the plant that the workforce left behind. [6]
The contrast, then, was not between a small traditional operation and distilling on a large scale for the first time. Old Midleton already possessed substantial equipment; the 1975 decision concerned a purpose-built replacement and the concentration of production from the merged firms. [1][6]
The Friday to Monday changeover
The most memorable account of the move follows the workers rather than the corporate paperwork. An Irish Examiner feature describes the old Midleton stills falling silent on a Friday afternoon in summer 1975, with the workforce beginning work in the new distillery the following Monday morning. [5]
Story box: One workforce, two Midleton distilleries
| Field | Record |
|---|---|
| Founding story | The Murphy family established Midleton in 1825, according to the producer’s account. [3] |
| Turning point | In summer 1975, the workforce finished at old Midleton on Friday and started at the new distillery on Monday. [5] |
| Key person | Barry Crockett joined Midleton in 1965, aged seventeen, and oversaw the move to the purpose-built distillery. [2] |
| Documented record | The new distillery was built beside Cork Distilleries Company’s old Midleton facility. [1] |
| Claim and verdict | Documented: the old-to-new Midleton workforce changeover took place across a weekend in summer 1975. [5] |
| What the record shows | The press account establishes the Friday finish and Monday start; it does not establish an exact calendar date. [5] |
| Evidence against or gap | The exact day and month are not established from the sources checked. |
| Earliest known source in this record | Irish Examiner, 16 September 2015. [5] |
| Last checked | 7 November 2026 |
Sources and claim mapping: founding, producer’s history; changeover and verdict, Irish Examiner; Crockett, Oxford Companion biography; location of the new plant, Oxford Companion company history.
What the new Midleton distillery changed
The new plant combined three enormous pot stills with three column stills, according to the Oxford Companion. It could therefore make both triple distilled pot still whiskey and column distilled grain whiskey at one site. [1] Jameson describes it as Europe's most modern distillery. The fact sheet classifies that claim as Legend: no independent source opened for the sheet confirms it. [4]
That combination is central to understanding the project. Midleton was not simply a replacement home for one Dublin brand: it brought different production streams together within the merged company’s new distillery. The distinction also places this episode alongside the wider history of column stills and blending, without making the two stories identical. [1]
For Dublin, consolidation meant the loss of the production work described in these histories. Woodard characterises the new greenfield distillery at Midleton as making Dublin distilling obsolete. The Oxford Companion places the closure of the Power’s and Jameson Dublin distilleries in 1975. [1][7]
Disputed: the precise closure chronology. Jameson's own history and the Oxford Companion give 1975 for Bow Street; the Oxford Companion also gives 1975 for John's Lane. Woodard gives 1971 for Bow Street and 1976 for John's Lane. The supported central point is the transfer of production to Midleton. [1][4][7]
Barry Crockett and continuity
Barry Crockett provides a personal connection between the two plants. Dave Broom’s Oxford Companion biography describes him as the third generation of his family at Midleton, born in a cottage opposite the original distillery. He joined in 1965 at seventeen and later oversaw the move. [2]
His career also connected the relocation with subsequent whiskey development. The same biography credits him with overseeing the whiskeys for Midleton Very Rare and records the 2011 launch of Irish Distillers’ single pot still range, including Barry Crockett Legacy. The move was therefore part of a continuing production career, not its endpoint. [2]
From consolidation to a wider company
Irish Distillers’ reach extended beyond the Republic when it bought Bushmills in 1972. The Oxford Companion describes Bushmills as the last distiller in Northern Ireland at that point. Jameson and Bushmills consequently did share an owner, despite their separate locations and identities. [1]
A further corporate turning point came in 1988, when Irish Distillers joined Pernod Ricard after an unwanted bid from Grand Metropolitan. The Oxford Companion says Pernod Ricard guaranteed the integrity of the company and its bid was accepted. This account is Documented in the fact sheet. Bushmills remained within the ownership structure until its divestment in 2005. [1]
The Midleton plant continued to change as well. The Oxford Companion records the addition of three more large pot stills in 2013. The installation described for 1975 should therefore be read as a historical configuration, not a statement of the distillery’s present equipment. [1]
A timeline of the consolidation
| Year | Event | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 1825 | Murphy family establishes Midleton, according to the producer. [3] | Distilling precedes the new plant by 150 years. |
| 1867 | Midleton becomes part of Cork Distilleries Company. [3] | The Cork operation enters the firm later involved in the merger. |
| 1966 | Power’s, Jameson and Cork Distilleries join forces. [1] | Separate firms adopt a shared future. |
| 1972 | Irish Distillers buys Bushmills. [1] | Ownership extends into Northern Ireland. |
| 1975 | Production moves into the new Midleton distillery. [1][5] | Consolidation takes physical form. |
| 1988 | Irish Distillers joins Pernod Ricard. [1] | Ownership changes after the merger and relocation. |
| 1992 | Old Midleton opens as a visitor centre. [6] | The former plant gains a public-facing role. |
| 2015 | A microdistillery brings distilling back to the old site. [5] | Old Midleton acquires a production role again. |
Reading old and new Midleton correctly
Two shortcuts obscure the story. The first is to treat Bow Street as Jameson’s continuing production home because of its historical association with the name; the histories place the production move at Midleton. The second is to imagine that the old Midleton buildings remained the main distillery after 1975. [1][4][6]
The old site’s later history needs its own distinction. It opened as a visitor centre in 1992, while a microdistillery brought distilling back there in 2015. “Old Midleton closed” describes the 1975 production change, but does not describe every subsequent use of the site. [5][6]
The weekend changeover captures what makes this revival story unusual. The buildings changed, the workforce crossed to a new plant, and production became concentrated in one place. Preservation and continued distilling would eventually coexist at old Midleton, but they followed a decision to replace its original production role. [1][5][6]
Where to go next
- Irish Whiskey's Rise, Fall and Revival: place the merger within the category’s longer history.
- The Still That Changed Scotch Whisky: Aeneas Coffey and the Rise of Blending: follow the wider significance of column distillation.
- Truths About Whisky (1878): The Dublin Distillers Against the Patent Still: explore an earlier argument involving Dublin distillers.
Sources
- Oxford University Press. The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails, entry “Irish Distillers Limited (IDL)” by David Wondrich. Edition and publication year not specified in the supplied record. https://www.spiritsanddistilling.com/dictionary/acref-9780199311132-e-1263.
- Oxford University Press. The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails, entry “Crockett, Barry” by Dave Broom. Edition and publication year not specified in the supplied record. https://www.spiritsanddistilling.com/dictionary/acref-9780199311132-e-1247.
- Irish Distillers. Midleton Distillery Celebrates 200 Years of Distilling Tradition. Producer’s account, publication date not specified in the supplied record. https://www.irishdistillers.ie/article/midleton-distillery-celebrates-200-years-of-distilling-tradition/. Supplied evidence was read through search extracts.
- Jameson. The Jameson Irish Whiskey History. Producer’s account, undated in the supplied record. https://www.jamesonwhiskey.com/en/our-story/our-history/. Supplied evidence was read through search extracts.
- Irish Examiner. Lifestyle feature, 16 September 2015; title not supplied in the fact sheet. https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/arid-20354008.html.
- Echo Live. Amy Nolan, Nostalgia: A look back at the Old Midleton Distillery, 4 December 2021. https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/arid-40758447.html.
- ScotchWhisky.com. Richard Woodard, Dublin whiskey: rise, fall and renewal, 28 March 2019. https://scotchwhisky.com/magazine/features/25080/dublin-whiskey-rise-fall-and-renewal/.
This desk-researched article uses the supplied verified fact sheet, distinguishing reference scholarship, press reporting and the producer’s own account.
Last checked: November 2026