Poitín

mikemac1

I'm putting this under retro as it has died a death from what I've seen

When I was a young un in the eighties and early nineties many a parish had a man who made this.

It was sometimes the local national school teacher!

Cost 6 punts a bottle which was far cheaper then whiskey in a shop

Off licence drink was more expensive back then and very few promotions

I've not heard of a maker in over a decade, seems to be gone for good.

Anyone else ever try or even make the hard stuff?

Can it still be bought even?

nlgbbbblth

My father used to get the occasional bottle from a friend.

I remember trying it as a teenager when they were away. Awful stuff.

Birdie086

I usually have a bottle in the house, I love it in coffee every now and then, I get from friends who live in a rural area, they drink it all the time and always seem to have a good supply.

xzanti

Was given a bottle of it a few years ago by neighbours who were moving out and wanted rid..

Was always the last bottle to be taken out at the end of a party.. tasted like battery acid (the couple of times I tried it)

Handy stuff to have around the house though

darkdubh

Had it at a party once.Was off my face,had the worst hangover ever.

Degsy

It was usually made from fermenting a mash of potatoes or barley in a vat of some sort.

the resulting liquid was then distilled through a home-made apparatus consisting of a copper tank with a water-cooled coil to collect the "whiskey" at the other end.

The distiller was usually heated by a peat fire to save on electricity.

The process has been nknown to produce toxic methanol (which would burn with an orange flame if ignited) as oppsed to ethanol( blue flame) which is what gets you drunk.

An old bloke i spoke to once had his equipment confiscated and was fined 5000 euro for producing spirits without a licence!

Home distillers are available online which can make 1litre per hour of up to 90% pure spirit...i dont reccomend using potatoes as your mash or it will taste disguting!;)