A drop of the Cratur: Poitín-making in the old days

In his latest Times past column, Jonathan Smyth looks at the histroy and tradition of poitín making in Ireland...

Centuries ago, long before the Scottish laid claim to the invention of whiskey, it was the Irish who created the drink known as poitín, otherwise moonshine or mountain dew, depending on what part of the world you live. To be as clear as a distilled glass of poitín (or poteen), this drink remained illegal for generations, and yes, a stipulation of the law was that the poitín-maker had to be caught red-handed to have him or her arrested. In olden times, people made poitín in the weeks coming up to Christmas when it was sold to clear a household’s debt that year.

Often, stills were setup on the outer edge of farmland so that the distiller could deny ownership. A fire using turf from a nearby bog was lit to heat the poitín, while the best days for distilling were windy ones when the smoke was not easily visible to the authorities. To produce poitín the recipe includes two 40-gallon barrels, three stones of barley, two stones of sugar and some yeast. Three hours later, the yeast had filtered through the 'copper worm' in the still, producing three gallons of the hard stuff. A documentary set in Connemara during 1977 mentioned this recipe, where the question was asked, 'should poitín be legalised?' This was a productive year for the poitín-makers who kept the gardaí on their toes throughout 1976, with 49 seizures, noted the programme.

One of the downsides of poitín-drinking was the effect it had on the drinker who occasionally entered a state of delirium tremens, lasting a period of three days, resulting in sleepless nights and hallucinations where they saw everything from mice to rats and other small creatures, and even the fairies; in some cases, hospitalisation was required.

Poitín was banned from 1661 until March 7, 1997, when a change in the law legalised it in the Republic of Ireland, but not in the North of Ireland. In the 1660s, King Charles II outlawed poitín because it proved impossible for him to collect tax on it. During the intervening centuries, production of it became a game of cat and mouse between the distiller and the authorities. Poitín may be made using a variety of crops including potatoes and rye.

Ballybay

The Distillation Act of Ireland 1831 gave the revenue police powers to act on the government’s behalf to issue fines and collect taxes. The excise men, or 'gaugers', were not liked by the poitín-makers and local communities. Gaugers would arrive at the poitín-maker's home accompanied by army red coats, which is what happened in Ballybay, Co Monaghan. The story is told in 'A Poitín Affray in Ballybay in 1797', by Tom Barron, in the Clogher Record.

At Ballybay, three illicit stills were seized by a gauger and his party of 20 armed red coats. Trouble erupted among the local population when they confronted the red coats who raised their guns and fired at the locals, killing many of them. Anger grew as word spread in the neighbourhood and, before long, a huge mob assembled in Ballybay. The ferocious rabble went after the red coats, and baying for blood, killed all but six of the soldiers. The only other to survive that day was the gauger himself.

Grousehall Station

On June 29, 1877, the Cavan Weekly News felt justified in its previously expressed opinion about the abandoned police station at Grousehall and gleefully drew attention to the fact that they had some time ago, ‘remonstrated’ with the authorities on the ‘impropriety’ of their decision to remove the police from the area. Efforts by the community to stop the closure were not successful and the consequences came home to roost. The journalist lamented, telling the reader, that ‘the Grousehall Station was on the road from Cavan to Bailieborough’ and that now ‘along that road, for a distance of 16 Irish miles, there is not even a solitary policeman, and the nearest police station is about five miles'.

‘Nearly all the murders’, added the reporter, which happened in the ‘last 20 years’ within the county, had occurred in the vicinity of Grousehall and there was the lawlessness on the nearby bog where illicit distillation was carried out. A poitín case involving a man was before the courts at the time of the news report. Grousehall’s poitín-maker was given a choice, pay a penalty of one hundred pounds, or do six months in jail.

Grousehall Station closed after an alleged dispute between the landlord and the constabulary who sought repairs to the building; but their requests were ignored by the landlord and the police then departed. The whole matter seemed to smack of a ‘pennywise and pound-foolish policy’ noted the column.

Ballyhaise

They don't call poitín ‘moonshine’ for no reason, for it's often under the cover of darkness that distillation occurred. In the early hours of Sunday morning, on February 6, 1887, at 12:30am, Humphries the local Sergeant, in the company of Constable Markey, encountered a cart driving towards them much to their surprise it being at such an unearthly hour. Something did not sit right about the late-night travellers, and the police questioned them. The replies given by the pair were not satisfactory and an examination of the cart revealed an 'old illicit still-head' and other items that the police brought back to the station along with the two men who were arrested.

Sergeant Humphries reinforced his 'small party' of officers taking with him Constable Noonan to raid the home of one of the prisoners who came from the townland of Unchina. The visit proved fruitful and 86 gallons of 'wash' was discovered ready for distillation. The case went before the magistrates and the men were charged on summons, to appear on February 21, 1887.

Now that it’s legalised, you can buy Glendalough Poitin from the Glendalough Distillery, a triple distilled drink with a traditional bite, they say was ‘first made by Irish Monks in the 6th century monasteries like Glendalough'.

However, they say, the cratur is produced to this day by illicit distillation around Ireland. Old habits die hard. Slainte!