Maura Clare & Alice Carroll – Spirited Women of Irish Spirits
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
Maura Clare & Smuggling Nun
00:00 - Introduction
02:33 - Preferred Drinkers
05:14 - Maura Clare Background
09:30 - Alice Carroll Background
12:11 - Limerick Advocacy
16:04 - Branding Poitín
19:47 - Why Maura Switched to Poitín
22:54 - Foxes Bow Origin Story
25:41 - Foxes Bow Whiskey Ingredients
30:53 - Smuggling Nun Poitín Ingredients
33:55 - Promoting Poitín as a Premium Drink
37:34 - Irish Whiskey Competitive Landscape
40:21 - Women in the Spirits Business
43:56 - Cocktail Choices
49:55 - Tastings
54:21 - Seamus Plug
57:11 - John and Martin Recap
58:15 - Credits
Alice Carroll
Founder
Alice spent nearly a decade spreading the good word of modern Ireland to anyone who’d listen in North America and Europe, working with some of the top Irish Whiskey and Scotch brands. She’s now back in Ireland stalking creatives full time to collaborate with Foxes Bow Whiskey!
Maura Clare
Queen of Poitín
Smuggling Nun creator Maura Clare first read about poitín when she was in her late teens, growing up in the very Irish-American town of Fairfield, Connecticut. She was immediately intrigued. Maura mentioned her curiosity about Ireland’s ancient distilled spirit to her cousin, an Irish Franciscan Nun, who was planning a trip back home. Sister Mary became determined to procure a sample. She not only hunted down the poitín, which was illegal at the time, she smuggled it back to the U.S. in a holy water bottle.
Years later, when Maura began researching poitín in earnest, a friend of a friend made a quiet introduction to a retired bootlegger-farmer in the Glens of Antrim, whose poitín-making methods originated with the famous Michael McIlhatton.
Over the next seven years, Maura worked to perfect the McIlhatton recipe to capture the distinctive, fresh flavor of Ireland’s best poitín. Smuggling Nun’s County Down distillery went through an extensive process to procure the finest ingredients and scale up the formula for production.
In blind taste tests, the SmugNun consistently ranks as the smoothest, most premium and flavorful of Irish poitíns.
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