Distillery Diaries from Ahascragh

Gareth was recently interviewed on site during a site visit to Ahascragh in Ireland.

It’s a great series of short videos they’re making documenting the characters involved in bringing the project to fruition. You can keep up to date with progress on their website https://ahascraghdistillery.com/our-story/

• Click for the transcription of the interview

  I'm Gareth Roberts. I'm at the owner and director of organic Architects where a company that are based in Scotland and the west coast of Scotland and over the last 10 years. We've started to be really heavily involved in Distillery.

  So Distillery Specialists, if you like that's our role we tend to guide projects leads the Specialists that you have in Distillery teams as well as doing the design work. I came to a house grow with Gareth about what three years ago now pre-pandemic Probably near a four years ago. Saw this amazing Mill Gareth tells a story that we came and looked at the building and then we went and literally sketched out on on a napkin but the interesting thing about this building is it really simply divides up and we knew we knew there was a building that hadn't found another use since it went redundant in the 50s. I think it was you need a big space.

  It's a big investment in a Distillery, whatever you do, but the great thing about a building like this is that you've got that traditional character. And that's what you want for a whiskey brand right is character. And so the building lends its old character too the new brand.

  the story of the people through to the product the bottle where it ends up. So we're involved in this big range of things that happen, but luckily luckily for the architect. The building is key to the brand.

  So it's it's part of The quality of the that the brand puts out there isn't it? And I like to say that distilleries. Therefore have to be beautiful buildings. Can you think of another building type where somebody says this has to be a beautiful building? I'm sorry. It's not beautiful enough. Can you just make your more beautiful sadly schools are not like that anymore train stations not like that anymore hospitals are not like that anymore. You name it?

  You just don't. We're so lucky. We're so lucky Distillery building. So I think the last beautiful building type. I think the really special thing about this Distillery is the fact that it's located in a community. It's a great process to have in the centre of a community and the great thing about having it in the centre of town is you've got local people then that can join and they can be the tour guides.

  They can be the employees. They can be working here whether it's admin jobs or working in the café or whatever. I always say that if somebody announces you're going to have a distillery in your community. You should Rejoice.