Page 6 - Antique Advertising & Breweriana Auction Sunday 22 November

15. OLD CRO WHISKEY BIRD SHAPED WATER JUG. 6.7ins
tall, off white with detailed bird and lettering in black. J A
Campbell & Son/ Belfast base transfer. Exc/A1
14. OLD CROMAC WHISKY WATER
JUG. 4.6ins tall, off white body with black transfers - to front ASK FOR OLD CRO, and the the rear OLD CROMAC/ Real Liquer/ Whisky/ Cromac Distillery/ BELFAST. J A Campbell base pottery transfer. Minro wear to gold rim/ handle otherwise very good.
In the late nineteenth century Belfast was
hailed as a great industrial city with shipyards
of Workman, Clerk & Co and Harland &
Wolff. Cotton and linen spinning mills and
weaving factories were established in North
and West Belfast giving employment to large
numbers of people. Foundries made spinning
machines for the mills as well as producing
equipment for railways being built throughout
Ireland. Many factories sited on rivers and
streams as water was a basic requirement in
manufacturing processes.
One industry Ireland is famous for is the
distillation of whiskey. Few people connect
Belfast with this but at one time it was one of
the major employers in the city.
After the Irish Famine the British government
went to great lengths to outlaw making and
distribution of poitín. Much encouragement
was given to whiskey distillers (producing
large income from duty levied) and great
numbers of whiskey distilleries were established throughout the length and breadth of Ireland. Sadly, most of have today disappeared altogether.
The 1899 street directory for Belfast listed 18 distilleries plus a number of whiskey bonders -
wholesale merchants licensed
to store whiskey in so called
bonded stores - Government
duty paid only when whiskey
left for retailing. These bonders
bought from several distilleries
blending them to produce their
distinctive labels. Thus there
are two types of whiskey for
sale, Pot Still (whiskey distilled
and matured in one container)
and blended whiskey. Much of
Irelands whiskey was exported
to Scotland and used in blending
there.
Cromac Distillery (1776 to 1930) had headquarters in Corporation Street. McConnell’s Brewery Ltd, Cromac Brewery, Ravenhill Road, Belfast built an extensive new brewery in 1899.. Coal and grain were carried by railway to the distillery’s own sidings, and the trains took the whisky away.
The entrance was an impressive gateway
and the red brick buildings, most four storeys high, covered seven acres and employed 450 men. Near the middle a 160 feet high chimney dominated the whole area. In addition to the warehouses at the distillery, the company also had bonded warehouses covering 13 acres in Adelaide Street, Alfred St. and Clarence St., and duty-paid warehouses in Alfred St. and Franklin St., with 50 clerks working in the main Callender St. offices.
Barley was delivered by train and horse- drawn carts to the distillery. The other major ingredient of whisky is water, whose mineral
and chemical properties influence the flavour. The water was supplied from Lough Mourne, 12 miles away, and in the distillery there were two wells 160 feet deep.
After partition the Irish distilling industry died. Britain operated
a complete ban and no Irish whiskey, from north or south, was allowed into Britain. Many owners of the Irish distillers had small operations in Scotland which had been closed - production restarted in these. The Prohibition in America
was the death knell for Irish whiskey makers nearly all of which closed. The only evidence of them now are the mirrors, posters, water jugs and bar material found in older pubs up and down the country, and with collectors.