Established in 1800, the Malcolm Brown & Co Distillery was one of the largest and most successful distilleries in Ireland.

At its pinnacle Malcolm Brown & Co. employed more than 170 staff and housed a giant Coffey Still (the twin columns of which stood more than 50ft/15.25m high), nine bonded warehouses (for 7,000 casks), its own engineering shop, smithy, stables, carpentry workshop, cooperage and harness maker’s – all of which were essential to maintaining an 8-million litre production capacity. A large amount of this whiskey was exported to cities like London and Liverpool, however, as Malcolm Brown himself stated, the company’s product was mainly consumed locally and in the neighbouring counties of Armagh, Cavan and Down.

In 1817, Dundalk and its surrounds endured a food shortage due to a bad harvest. At the time Malcolm Brown & Co. had large grain stores and the company took the decision to ground stock into meal and sell it at affordable rates. During that same year construction began on the 162ft/50M chimney stack, then the largest in Ireland. Such was the height of the structure that it was often used by sailors and wayfarers as a navigation landmark.

After going from strength to strength throughout the 1800s it appears the distillery fell into financial difficulty just as the century turned. The company shifted its production focus to grain spirit and its lucrative by-product yeast. This eventually lead to Malcolm Brown & Co. being purchased by a competitor seeking to secure a monopoly on industrial spirit production. Distillation at the facility continued until 1926.

In 1927 the Irish Government and the new owners entered negotiations about a potential reopening of the distillery to help boost local employment. However, these ultimately failed.

Due to concerns about the structural safety of the distillery’s chimney it was decided to demolish it in 1933. This involved removing rows of brick (which were several layers deep) on one side of the column and then replacing them with timbers soaked in paraffin, Once the timber was set alight, it would burn away and the chimney would fall in a predetermined direction.

Demolition day was scheduled for the 26th October 1933. Photographers, journalists and cameramen form all over the nation were ready to capture the chimney’s fall. However, this was to be another case of the best-laid plans going awry.

During the night, some twelve hours before the fuse was to be lit, a thunderous cacophony of thuds and crashes awoke Dundalk’s inhabitants. The chimney had taken a tumble all by itself, scattering half a million bricks across the distillery yards. Surprisingly, these bricks were found to be in such excellent condition that nearly of them were used to construct houses in the nearby Seatown district of Dundalk.

In 2014 Malcolm Brown & Co. was reestablished to revive, continue and innovate the rich whiskey traditions and heritage of Dundalk and Ireland. Our aim is to bring you fun, exciting, high-quality and truly distinctive sprits using only the finest of ingredients.

In 2025, to celebrate 225 years of Malcolm Brown & Co., we released eponymous limited editions of Irish Whiskey and Classic Dry Gin.