I’ll get to the point.

Early in 2016 Blackwater Distillery will crowdfund our new still.

Copper pots
Sally

 

A still is of course the sexy piece of the jigsaw puzzle and sounds better than ‘we will crowdfund the pipework’, or ‘crowdfund a couple of stainless steel tanks’. Either way, we will take it to the crowd to raise a small but important bit of cash, which will go into the Blackwater piggy bank, pay for part of the still and get phase ii across the line.

Blackwater Distillery was always a three-phase project. Phase I was to get a white spirits distillery operational by the end of 2014. We didn’t quite make that date, we fired up Odin on the last day of January 2015, Sally in February and by March had products on the shelves.

What is Phase ii? Brown spirits ie. poteen, whiskey, chef sauce. So we need to brew on site and we need a larger still. All the gear has been sourced and all going well by the spring we’ll be back on track. Phase iii involves moving and installing a roller disco on the roof, which may happen at the same time, it may not.

With crowdfunding comes risks. We will be the third Irish distillery project to try it and the first two failed. Having said that, not succeeding on Kickstarter does not mean the project can’t succeed. Indeed the two earlier projects are still all go and we wish them the very best. We, small guys, need to stick together, it’s cold out there. Micro-distilleries are here because those behind them really want to do something interesting and rewarding at home. Multi-nationals are here because they are not allowed to make Irish Whiskey anywhere else.

Kieran looks to the future.
Kieran looks to the future.

How can you help? Let people know what’s coming. We’d also like to know what rewards you’d like. We’re not doing gimmicks, empty bottles and high-fives on Twitter. Investing is also a risk for you. So we feel you should be rewarded. So talk to us. We want to be Ireland’s crankiest distillery so we’ve got two months to let the world know.