Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Dave Mulligan is the owner of Dublin's Bar 1661 and The Sackville Lounge, founder of Bán Poitín, and one of the most committed advocates for Ireland's oldest spirit currently working the floor.
Poitín was banned by the British Crown in 1661 and remained illegal for 336 years, surviving in the hills of Connemara and Donegal as both an act of cultural defiance and a working farmer's economy. Now legal, GI-protected, and slowly finding its place on the world's best back bars, the category is at one of the most interesting moments in its history. We trace the spirit's origins back through the 1500s and earlier, separating monkish folklore from the documentary record. We taste a remarkable bottle from the 1830s that may rewrite some of what we think we know about Irish distillation. And we work through a flight of contemporary expressions including Micil's malted barley poitín, the Killowen-Micil Kneecap collaboration finished in Buckfast casks, Killowen's peated Dead & Buried, Bán Poitín itself, a Bán expression finished in cocktail-seasoned casks, and an unlabelled brown-paper-bag illicit bottle from an unnamed distiller.
We talk about what 1997 legalisation actually changed, why the 2008 PGI imposed a ten-week barrel limit, and why every poitín we taste sits as a fully resolved spirit in its own right rather than a stop on the way to something else. We also get into the early days of Sibín in Kentish Town, the founding of Bar 1661 and The Sackville Lounge, the Belfast Coffee origin story, and what it would take for poitín to become a serious global spirit category.
POITÍN TASTED IN THIS EPISODE
In rough order of tasting:
Bán Poitín (in the Belfast Coffee at the open, then neat later in the episode) — Dave's own brand. Blended from malted barley, Comber potatoes and Irish grain, distilled at Echlinville. https://www.ban-poitin.com
A forgotten ~1830s spirit from County Tyrone — discovered around 2019–2020. Not commercially available.
Micil Poitín — six-generation family recipe dating to 1848. https://micildistillery.com
Micil x Kneecap Poitín — limited collaboration, Buckfast-cask seasoned. Available via Micil. https://micildistillery.com
Killowen Dead & Buried — peated, 67.9% ABV, distilled by Brendan Carty in collaboration with historian Fionnán O'Connor. killowendistillery.com
Bán 1661 (cocktail-cask finish) — limited release finished in casks seasoned with Bar 1661's own cocktails. ban-poitin.com
A mystery stout based poitín — from a sizable distillery; not yet released.An illicit, unlabelled bottle — currently being made off-grid; not commercially available.
Featured venues: Bar 1661 — https://www.bar1661.ie · The Sackville Lounge — https://thesackvillelounge.com
00:00:00 Belfast Coffee – the signature serve at Bar 1661
00:04:07 Is poitín Irish moonshine?
00:06:24 Origins – distilling in Ireland before the word "poitín" existed
00:13:00 The 1556 licence and the road to the 1661 ban
00:19:04 Kentish Town, Shibín and the start of the modern revival
00:22:30 The potato myth – what poitín was actually made from
00:24:00 Tasting a forgotten 1830s bottle from County Tyrone
00:29:25 The Poitín Wars and cultural suppression
00:30:50 Tasting Micil Poitín – an 1848 family recipe
00:33:00 Tasting Micil x Kneecap, Buckfast-cask aged
00:38:35 Potatoes, sugar shine and the long decline
00:42:10 Legalisation – 1987 for export, 1997 at home
00:43:55 The Hackler – poitín's false start
00:45:36 Assembling a category on Twitter
00:50:00 Tasting Killowen Folklore – peated, 67.9%
00:53:34 The PGI rules and the ten-week barrel limit
00:58:11 Tasting Bán Poitín
01:01:00 Tasting Bán 1661 – cocktail-cask finish
01:04:00 Category growth and the road ahead
01:08:00 Tasting a mystery aged poitín
01:13:00 Tasting an illicit, unlabelled poitín
01:21:00 The future of the category
01:24:00 Closing – Ireland's mescal moment
Fionnán O'Connor is the mentioned author of A Glass Apart
📷 Follow me on Instagram - instagram.com/tristanstephenson
📚 I've written quite a few books on spirits and cocktails - thecuriousbartender.com
Dave Mulligan is the owner of Dublin's Bar 1661 and The Sackville Lounge, founder of Bán Poitín, and one of the most committed advocates for Ireland's oldest spirit currently working the floor.
Poitín was banned by the British Crown in 1661 and remained illegal for 336 years, surviving in the hills of Connemara and Donegal as both an act of cultural defiance and a working farmer's economy. Now legal, GI-protected, and slowly finding its place on the world's best back bars, the category is at one of the most interesting moments in its history. We trace the spirit's origins back through the 1500s and earlier, separating monkish folklore from the documentary record. We taste a remarkable bottle from the 1830s that may rewrite some of what we think we know about Irish distillation. And we work through a flight of contemporary expressions including Micil's malted barley poitín, the Killowen-Micil Kneecap collaboration finished in Buckfast casks, Killowen's peated Dead & Buried, Bán Poitín itself, a Bán expression finished in cocktail-seasoned casks, and an unlabelled brown-paper-bag illicit bottle from an unnamed distiller.
We talk about what 1997 legalisation actually changed, why the 2008 PGI imposed a ten-week barrel limit, and why every poitín we taste sits as a fully resolved spirit in its own right rather than a stop on the way to something else. We also get into the early days of Sibín in Kentish Town, the founding of Bar 1661 and The Sackville Lounge, the Belfast Coffee origin story, and what it would take for poitín to become a serious global spirit category.
POITÍN TASTED IN THIS EPISODE
In rough order of tasting:
Bán Poitín (in the Belfast Coffee at the open, then neat later in the episode) — Dave's own brand. Blended from malted barley, Comber potatoes and Irish grain, distilled at Echlinville. https://www.ban-poitin.com
A forgotten ~1830s spirit from County Tyrone — discovered around 2019–2020. Not commercially available.
Micil Poitín — six-generation family recipe dating to 1848. https://micildistillery.com
Micil x Kneecap Poitín — limited collaboration, Buckfast-cask seasoned. Available via Micil. https://micildistillery.com
Killowen Dead & Buried — peated, 67.9% ABV, distilled by Brendan Carty in collaboration with historian Fionnán O'Connor. killowendistillery.com
Bán 1661 (cocktail-cask finish) — limited release finished in casks seasoned with Bar 1661's own cocktails. ban-poitin.com
A mystery stout based poitín — from a sizable distillery; not yet released.An illicit, unlabelled bottle — currently being made off-grid; not commercially available.
Featured venues: Bar 1661 — https://www.bar1661.ie · The Sackville Lounge — https://thesackvillelounge.com
00:00:00 Belfast Coffee – the signature serve at Bar 1661
00:04:07 Is poitín Irish moonshine?
00:06:24 Origins – distilling in Ireland before the word "poitín" existed
00:13:00 The 1556 licence and the road to the 1661 ban
00:19:04 Kentish Town, Shibín and the start of the modern revival
00:22:30 The potato myth – what poitín was actually made from
00:24:00 Tasting a forgotten 1830s bottle from County Tyrone
00:29:25 The Poitín Wars and cultural suppression
00:30:50 Tasting Micil Poitín – an 1848 family recipe
00:33:00 Tasting Micil x Kneecap, Buckfast-cask aged
00:38:35 Potatoes, sugar shine and the long decline
00:42:10 Legalisation – 1987 for export, 1997 at home
00:43:55 The Hackler – poitín's false start
00:45:36 Assembling a category on Twitter
00:50:00 Tasting Killowen Folklore – peated, 67.9%
00:53:34 The PGI rules and the ten-week barrel limit
00:58:11 Tasting Bán Poitín
01:01:00 Tasting Bán 1661 – cocktail-cask finish
01:04:00 Category growth and the road ahead
01:08:00 Tasting a mystery aged poitín
01:13:00 Tasting an illicit, unlabelled poitín
01:21:00 The future of the category
01:24:00 Closing – Ireland's mescal moment
Fionnán O'Connor is the mentioned author of A Glass Apart
📷 Follow me on Instagram - instagram.com/tristanstephenson
📚 I've written quite a few books on spirits and cocktails - thecuriousbartender.com
