Whiskey Ashore

During the years after the Second World War, the waters around Clare Island were awash with materials from ships torpedoed at sea in the North Atlantic and indeed man a sailor loss at sea was recovered on Clare Island. The natural moon shape of Clew Bay acted as a collector and Clare Island sits right at the mouth of the bay.

There is a story of two fishermen who towed a large steel barrel into the harbour on the island with their currach only later to find out it was a floating mine. They anchored it out in the harbour however with bad weather that night it broke away from anchor and floated over to the Old Head on the mainland and detonated. It is said that the blast broke glass in windows as far inland as Louisburgh village.

On another occasion a Lighthouse keeper perched atop the North facing cliff on the island noticed a floating object to the north east and notified a local fisherman living close to him. The fisherman and his mate headed out to the location in his currach to find a large oak barrel which they towed back to the small pier under the lighthouse. Not knowing what was inside they drilled it and were delighted to find a stunning whiskey the likes of which was never tasted before. You would expect its life at sea had something to do with this. Back then the Customs & Excise were on overdrive on the west coast, gathering all what they could from the wreckage of war lost at sea. There was a customs officer based in Westport and through one way or another got word of the fisherman’s bounty found offshore at Clare Island. The fisherman and mate enjoyed their find as did their neighbours.

In those times, the people of the island brewed poitin as their tipple as whiskey was too expensive so this was a great treat. It is said that the lobster pots of the village got a good soaking that time. However, some time later the Customs Officer came to the island in search of the whiskey they heard tell of. On word of this, the fisherman buried the barrel in the bog close to his old cottage and swore of no knowledge of the barrel. Undeterred the customs officer left the island and returned with the Police and threatened the fisherman with prison in order to give up his prise. Under threat, the fisherman gave up his barrel. The main customs depot at the time was in Galway City and word later filtered through that when the barrel was opened it contained nothing but sea water.