Irish Stew Podcast John Lee & Martin Nutty
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- Society & Culture
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Irish Stew, the podcast for the Global Irish Nation featuring interviews with fascinating influencers proud of their Irish Edge. If you're Irish born or hyphenated Irish, this is the podcast that brings all the Irish together Listen Notes
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S6E2: Michael McKillop - Whisky Distiller & Potato Purveyor
In the first of our “Irish Libations” series, we welcome Michael McKillop, who branched out from the 36-year-old Glens of Antrim Potatoes business to launch Glens of Antrim Distillery with its Lir line of Irish Whiskeys, amidst bucolic surroundings in Cushendall, Northern Ireland.
We get a professional’s view of the growing, shipping, and marketing of Ireland’s favorite crop, and how his company is taking on the potato crisp business with its Glens of Antrim and Shindig brands with creative new flavors (Roast Beef & Mustard!) and packaging, including boxes and 10-pound bags!
We learn how he revived the Lumper, the potato variety associated with the crop failure of “Black 47,” and how his Lumpers entered the curriculum of schools across the island in lessons about An Gorta Mor.
Knowing it would be a gamble, Michael rolled the dice in creating his line of whiskey, with Green Crest, Red Crest, and Black Crest versions of his Lir brand, a labor of love, a tribute to his family's heritage, and to the stunning Glens of Antrim region.
He rolled the dice again in planning a new distillery to strengthen the company’s ties with the local community, create job opportunities in the area, and launch a new tourist destination. A handsome structure it will be, and after a long journey the project got the go-ahead just after we recorded this episode.
Michael shares stories of why he hates sheep, his adventures delivering potatoes with his father around Northern Ireland, the business reasons for moving into whiskey, the challenges of launching a distillery, why he’s committing to pot-still whiskey, and the benefits of the founders’ cask trade.
We wrap with a wee, warming, amber dram of Lir Green Crest. Sláinte!
Links
Michael McKillop
Facebook LinkedInGlens of Antrim Distillery
WebsiteFacebookInstagram LinkedInGlens of Antrim Potatoes
Facebook LinkedIn InstagramTwitterGlens of Antrim Crisps
WebsiteShindigs Boxed Potato Crips
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S6E1: Discovering the Truth in Lies We Tell
Launching Season Six, we go behind the scenes of the woman-strong Irish film Lies We Tell, a brooding tale of angels and demons, light and shadow, manners and mores, family secrets and family crimes, which The Guardian called “a tightly laced, elegantly cut gothic period drama.”
A total rethinking of Irish writer Sheridan Le Fanu’s 1864 novel Uncle Silas, the film centers on Maud Ruthyn, brilliantly portrayed by the rising young star Agnes O’Casey, great-granddaughter of the playwright, Sean O'Casey, who is trapped in the sprawling family estate Knowl (filmed at Ardgillan Castle in County Dublin) and by “the law being made and enforced by men.”
The Guardian called her delivery “as sharp as a steak knife” and Screen International wrote, “A singular performance by Agnes O’Casey gives the pretty period piece a serrated edge.”
Our episode starts with a prelude from Maedhbh Fiona Mc Cullagh, director of Washington, DC’s Solas Nua Capital Irish Film Festival, which kicks off on Feb. 29th with Lies We Tell. Then Director Lisa Mulcahy and screenwriter Elisabeth Gooch talk about how they transformed a century-and-a-half-old Gothic period drama into a compelling woman-centered story relevant to today. We learn why Elizabeth found the 1864 Maude so annoying and Lisa talks about the budget pressures that led to the film’s signature candle-lit ambiance, creating what Film Journal called “a tale of flawlessness and immersive beauty.”
Then you’ll meet Agnes O’Casey and hear about her UK upbringing, her Trinity College Dublin theatre training, her embrace of the Sean O’Casey lineage, her TV breakthrough in Ridley Road, her recent roles in films with the likes of Maggie Smith, Kathy Bates, Laura Linney, Stephen Rea, and a Cillian Murphy film yet to be released, and the challenges of being on camera in almost every scene of Lies We Tell.
Join us to meet the makers and learn the backstory of the brilliant, woman-forwards Lies We Tell.
Links:
Lies We Tell
WebsiteIMDbAgnes O’Casey
Wikipedia IMDbPortfolio ShowreelLisa Mulcahy
WebsiteIMDbTwitterElisabeth Gooch
IMDbMaedhbh Fiona Mc Cullagh
LinkedInTwitterSolas Nua Capital Irish Film Festival -
S5E22: Dan Mulhall - Check-In - The Pilgrim Soul of WB Yeats
When we last talked with Dan Mulhall, he was Ireland’s Ambassador to the United Stares. Since then, he retired after a 44-year career in diplomacy, but he’s been busier than ever as we learn in this check-in episode with Martin Nutty focused on his new book on W. B. Yeats.
Recent invitations to New York University, Cambridge, and Harvard, provided opportunities to engage with students and pursue research into Yeats, a poet that he’d turned to throughout his diplomatic career. Early on, Dan realized the power of Yeats’s poetry, how the words of one of Ireland’s most important cultural icons could open diplomatic doors that were closed to other nations.
Dan’s love of Yeats’s words and his understanding of the poet's role in Irish history is now told in “Pilgrim Soul: W. B. Yeats and the Ireland of His Time.”
Join us as Dan explores the many aspects of the enigmatic poet’s life and how his legacy continues to be relevant in a turbulent world.
Links
Twitter
Pilgrim Soul: W. B. Yeats and the Ireland of His TimeUnited StatesIreland -
S5E21: Malachy Browne - Data-driven Journalist for the Digital Age
With a computer programming background and an instinct for reporting, Malachy Browne is on the vanguard of a new form of data-driven news coverage that is revitalizing journalism.
Co-founder and enterprise director of the New York Times Visual Investigations team, Malachy is pioneering the use of digital sleuthing, collecting and analyzing troves of video and audio, satellite images and other data, and creating 3-D reconstructions of crime scenes and geopolitical events to hold the powerful to account and deconstruct important news events.
These efforts have earned two Pulitzer Prizes, an Emmy, and other top-tier accolades for Malachy and his team.
Not bad for a Limerick lad from the village of Broadford, population 276!
He’d earn his master’s in international relations at the University of Limerick after getting his bachelor’s degree in engineering at University College Dublin.
Malachy tells of navigating between his core computer competency and his journalistic instincts (which he “blames” on his uncle, the legendary journalist Vincent Browne) which would lead him to Storyful, where he’d collaborate with past guests Mark Little, David Clinch, and others in creating the emerging innovative data-driven style of reporting.
Join us for an inside look at the way Malachy and his team are telling the world’s most critical stories—from the Arab Spring to the January 6th Insurrection—in an entirely new way.
Malachy Browne Links
X/TwitterFacebookLinkedInNew York Times Links
Visual InvestigationsMalachy BrowneDay of Rage: How Trump Supporters Took the U.S. Capitol -
S5E20: Ted Smyth - Politics 2024 Check-In
Ted Smyth, former diplomat and C-Suite and current President of the Advisory Board of Glucksman Ireland House NYU, joins Martin Nutty for a discussion on Irish and American politics.
What does the recent November 2023 American mid term election presage for 2024?
How differing are the American and Irish views on Gaza?
How should we understand the recent Dublin riots and the relationship between that violence and the competition for public resources?
These are some of the questions asked in Ted's 4th appearance on Irish Stew and he tells us how he thinks the upcoming election in 2024 are going to play out on both sides of the Atlantic
Ted Links:
Website
Glucksman Ireland House NYU Gala - March 5, 2024 -
S5E19: Fin Dwyer Check-In - A Lethal Legacy
Fin Dwyer of Irish History Podcasts pays a return visit to Irish Stew. We last hosted Fin two years ago. Since then, Fin has continued to fascinate his listeners with in depth episodes on a broad range of Irish History topics. Despite this frenetic pace, Fin has found time to publish a book titled: A Lethal Legacy - A History of Ireland in 18 Murders.
We'll be talking about two cases detailed in the book and what they can tell us about how Ireland has changed over the past 200 years. We'll also find out what Fin has in store for his listeners in 2024
Links
Irish History PodcastA Lethal Legacy (Amazon)InstagramTwitter
Customer Reviews
Beautiful listen.
Visiting Ireland? Curious about Irish identity? Just want to enjoy stories of origin and impact? Beautiful listen for the Irish diaspora.
Loved the conversation!
Great conversation!
So good
Just found this podcast! So glad I did! The hosts discuss such interesting topics and leaving me wanting to hear more. Check it out!