Irish Stew Podcast John Lee & Martin Nutty

Settle in for a spirited episode of Irish Stew with two pioneering women in the Irish spirits industry, Alice Carroll--the proud Limerick distiller and co-founder of Foxes Bow Whiskey, and Maura Clare--the Queen of Poitín and creator of the Smuggling Nun brand.

They swap notes on their journey into the spirits business, the challenges and opportunities of operating in traditionally male-dominated sectors, their innovative approaches to reviving and reshaping perceptions around Irish Whiskey and Poitín, how they crafted their distinctive flavor profiles, and the intriguing backstories of the Foxes Bow and Smuggling Nun names.

The conversations delve into the unique qualities of their spirits, their signature cocktail creations, the importance of women in the evolving Irish spirits industry, and who they’d most like to serve their libations to. Paging Beyoncé!

Join us for the story of two women forging ahead in the Irish drinks industry--Alice, gaining shelf space globally for Foxes Bow in a crowded Irish Whiskey category, and Maura opening new markets for a newly legal elixir with her Smuggling Nun Poitín.
Sláinte!

Links
Alice Carroll & Foxes Bow
WebsiteTwitterFacebookInstagramLinkedInMaura Clare & Smuggling Nun
Website TwitterFacebookInstagramLinkedIn

Michael Meade spent over 20 years on Wall Street and then stepped away from the pressured world of high finance to do something totally different. Some, in his circumstances, may have opted for plenty of time on the golf course and cracking open a few brews, that’s not the kind of person Michael Meade is.  

Intrigued by a visit to Ireland, Michael wanted to build a business that would connect to his Irish roots, work with a famous brewing dynasty, revive Ireland's oldest brewing brand and return beer making to Kilkenny,  the home of red ale.
It has, and will continue to be, a journey for a son of Buffalo, one of America's most Irish of towns. Michael's partnership with the Smithwick family, the revival of Sullivan's Brewing in Kilkenny, an award winning beer developed by brewmaster Ian Hamilton, is a tale of both passion and the value in building a great team, that combination just might yield Ireland's next great export company.

Michael Meade's Links
LinkedInInstagramTwitterSullivans Brewing Company
WebsiteFacebookInstagramTwitter

As Chief Executive of the Western Development Commission (WDC), Allan Mulrooney is a tireless advocate for the Western Region of Ireland, promoting social and economic development for the counties of Donegal, Leitrim, Sligo, Mayo, Roscommon, Galway, and Clare.

Why go west? Allan points to the region's mix of the old and the new, how it fosters a work-life balance,  the contrast of beautiful natural areas and vibrant cities, its expanding broadband internet and innovation-spurring connected hubs--and some of the best surfing in the world!

Growing up in Strandhill, just west of Sligo, Allan first paddled out into the surf before he was a teenager—the water was cold, but then the sport wasn’t cool. It sounds pretty cool when Allan tells of traveling the world with a few surfboards and a guitar on his back.

Talking to Allan, you see career threads spinning out in all directions—surf bum, web publisher, social enterprise entrepreneur, community advocate, business development executive, communications professional—and all those threads come together in his leadership role at the WDC, where he and his team work to tell the region’s compelling “Work Smarter, Live Better” story.

Join us as we head west with Allan for an audio tour of the scenic beauty, appealing lifestyle, expanding business ecosystem, dynamic innovation hubs, vibrant cities and peaceful towns, growing business opportunities, emerging career possibilities, growing economy, and all that’s best about the West.

But if surfing is your draw, Allan cautions it takes “more courage or madness” than he has to tackle the forty- and fifty-foot “mutant” waves off Mullaghmore Head!

Links:
Allan Mulrooney
Twitter / XLinkedInWebsites:
o   gostrandhill.com (Co-Founder at)
o   gostrandhill.com/strandhill-indonesian-relief-fund  (SIRF Charity)Western Development Commission
WebsiteLinkedInTwitter / XFacebookInstagram

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


Website

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

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