The Shed Distillery

From the the Curious Mind of PJ Rigney

As a creator of new recipes, an inventor and an experimenter PJ Rigney dreamed of building his own distillery.  But not just any distillery - the location was crucial.  The location  had to be wild, un-manicured, in the heart of rural Ireland. A place of curiosity and inspiration that was surrounded by nature and immersed in rich history. 

So in his pursuit of a location that fit his vision, he discovered the beautiful village of Drumshanbo, on the shores of Lough Allen, at the foothills of Sliabh an Iarainn (The Iron Mountain).   There PJ knew he had found the perfect location for his distillery.

As PJ began to spec out the equipment for his new venture, he sought to create an authentic distillery, where a return to the traditional methods using gleaming copper pot and column stills would enable PJ to  experiment with wild grains, Irish flora, and exotic botanicals. 

He chose 5 gleaming state of the art Cooper Pot stills especially made by Arnold Holstein in Germany and brought over to Drumshanbo, The Shed’s five stills copper pot stills – 3 focused on Irish Whiskey, and 2 on Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin are in addition to 2 copper column stills – focusing on Sausage Tree Pure Irish Vodka.

And so during the solar transit of the Winter Solstice sun in 2014, that saw the revered tradition of distilling Irish Whiskey, return to the Western province of Connacht. During this 21st of December, PJ and Denise Rigney, along with their dedicated team of distillers, laid down the first whiskey in Connacht in over 101 years. In fact, the distillation began even before the building of new distillery was even completed – PJ & Head Distiller, Brian Taft, have always been incredibly passionate and dedicated to their endeavors. With this, the Shed Distillery of PJ Rigney was born, and PJ, always true to his endeavors, began his quest to distill only the most premium of Irish Spirits.