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1916 A bottle of 100 year old whiskey by Dublin Whiskey Distillery.
Matured in cask for over fifty three years, in bond since 1916 until bottled by P & F McGlade, 96 Donegall
Street, Belfast, in 1966. As far as we can ascertain this is the oldest Irish whiskey to ever be offered at auction.
Accompanied by correspondence with Lyle & Kinahan including a letter to the latter, dated 22 March 1966
instructing the firm to sell 2 of the casks to a broker and to bottle the remaining cask. As far as we are aware
only four bottles remain extant, of which this is one.
Original content was 75cl; level is now just below the neck. 70 proof.
Provenance:
Frank McGlade;
Thence by descent
P & F McGlade’s Bar was located at 96 Donegall Street, and 31 Little Donegall Street Belfast. It was founded
in 1888 by Patrick and Frank McGlade, members of an established family of publicans in the city, and was
initially named The Arcade. Patrick and Frank were already owners of a number of bars in the city including
the Queens Cafe in Queen’s Arcade. Within ten years the brothers monopolised the licensed trade in the area
of Donegall Street, owning the International Restaurant Bar & Billiard Hall (destroyed by German bombs in
1941), and the Grand Metropole Hotel.
Located beside the offices of the Irish News and The Belfast Telegraph McGlade’s became a favourite haunt
for both local journalists and those from out of town - in more recent times including many from the
Republic, Britain and elsewhere, sent to cover the Troubles. In one year alone the vistors book boasted over
1,000 entries from journalists. During the war the bar attracted huge numbers of American GI’s. Other
clientele included students and staff from the Art College, local politicians including Gerry Fitt, lawyers from
the courts nearby, and others. According to one review “it was one of the few places during the Troubles that
could be considered a true “melting pot”. Rich and poor, Protestant and Catholic all mingled in harmony. A
haven in a sea of madness.”
”It had a Penny Farthing bicycle mounted on the wall in the upstairs back lounge, boasted the longest bar
counter in Ireland in the downstairs public bar and Mr Frank McGlade, the owner, sported a fresh flower
in his buttonhole every day. The pub was unfortunately burnt down in a fire caused by an electrical fault
in 1983. Ironic and tragic considering so many other Bars in town were destroyed in much less innocent
circumstances.” It had passed into the hands of Bass Ireland a year before the fire.
Dan McDermott, brother of Seán McDermott, one of the signatories to the Proclamation worked behind
the bar at McGlade’s in the early 1900s. Seán spent some time in Belfast as well, where he worked as a tram
conductor from 1905 until he became a full time organiser for Sinn Fein in 1907.
Dublin Whiskey Distillery Company (which became known as DWD) was a limited company formed by
a consortium of seven businessmen including James Walker and William Sealy, better known as printers
and paper merchants. The distillery, in Jones Road, was completed in 1873 and by the 1880s was producing
over 500,000 gallons of whiskey a year. The distillery was state of the art for the time with an electric turbine
driven either by a wheel in the Tolka or steam engines. a big wheel in the adjoining River Tolka or by one of
the plant’s steam engines.
In 1891, DWD joined forces with George Roe and William Jameson - to form the Dublin Distillers Company
Limited (DDC). Each one of these distilleries had huge output and only used pot stills, totally ignoring the
profitability and efficiency of Coffey Stills and grain whiskey, which was increasing being used by the Scots.
Each member of DDC continued to produce Irish pot still whiskey under its own brand name and were
therefore often in direct competition to each other. World War I, Irish Independence, the Civil War and
American Prohibition were to deal deadly blows to all three of these distilleries which had an overproduction
capacity for their ever diminishing markets. It is likely that the Jones Road Distillery stopped full time
distilling in 1926, however it appears that they may have continued distilling irregularly until 1945. The last
known whiskey from Jones Road was a bottling of a whiskey distilled in 1942. An apartment complex, named
The Distillery is on the site and incorporates some of the original buildings.
Wine & Spirits