Copeland 25.1 Single Malt Irish Whiskey Review
Located 18 miles east of Belfast in the small town of Donaghadee lies Copeland Distillery. Founder Gareth Irvine had an unconventional move into whiskey production coming from a sales background. While studying Business at the Ulster University in Coleraine he set up a business as part of his final year producing fruit infused gin. Even though he had no actual product he managed to crowd fund £30k and in 2016 Copeland Distillery was born. Fast forward to 2019 and the new distillery opened its doors beside the historic harbour of Donaghadee in the grounds of the old cinema house and Ards Bottling Company. Confidence obviously wasn’t lacking as Gareth signed a 125 year lease on the property. The distillery makes gin, ginfusions, vodka, rum and of course whiskey, both single malt and pot still. I visited the distillery with a few friends in June 2024 and it’s a beautiful little set up with two whiskey stills and and gin still. Currently output is just 3 barrels of whiskey a week....
