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Uncorking in Cork Conor Craig , No.2 Region Recently I had a notion to get away for a couple of days and floated the idea to some friends from the IPA Whiskey Forum. I soon had fellow No.2 Region members Stuart Irvine and Tim Cooke onboard. T he loose plan was to head to Cork and visit friends from Section Ireland who we had met on a Friendship weekend in Kingussie a few years ago. True to form, the guys had planned quite a reception Tuesday saw us at Midleton Distillery, the home of Jameson’s and Redbreast Whiskey. Murphy’s Law struck and our transport, kindly laid on by the Garda, blew a radiator hose. All was not lost as, while awaiting recovery, we had a surprise visit from the brand ambassador for Kilbeggan Whiskey with some much needed refreshments.

for us. Our party of four set off from Belfast and headed south. The fourth member of our group endured a relentless IPA recruitment pitch and hopefully will sign up very soon. At the IPA Section Ireland apartment in Cork we met Omar Fitzell. After a few minutes to dump our bags, we were on the move for the first of our planned activities, a guided tour of the city. After meeting up with local members of the IPA Whiskey Forum, we took a leisurely 10 minute stroll to the Franciscan Well Brewery & Pub. This was the starting point for a four hour walk led by Eric Ryan, exploring the distilling and brewing history of Cork. Eric is an engaging and knowledgeable character who, as well as working as a distiller, is also the Secretary of the Cork Whiskey Society. Eric made sure that there were plenty of opportunities to taste the local premium whiskies as he guided us around the city. I can not recommend his tour highly enough. If any of you are visiting Cork, be sure to look him up at www.corkwhiskeywalk.ie

We were soon back on the road and arrived just in time to enjoy lunch in the Distillery Restaurant, which was generously provided by Section Ireland. Our VIP tour of the Distillery was truly a “behind the scenes” affair that was very kindly sponsored by Irish Distillers, and would not have been possible without Omar’s impressive list of contacts in the whiskey world. What had started off as the spontaneous notion to get away for a few days had somewhere along the line morphed into a cultural and social gathering. Omar and I have discussed trying to organise a similar trip, on a larger scale, for IPA members in the future. A massive thank you to Section Ireland for the use of the Cork Apartment; to Cork North Region for their generous hospitality; to AGS for providing transport and to No.2 Region committee for their kind contribution. Any IPA member with an appreciation of whiskey, (and even whisky), should bear the IPA Whiskey Forum in mind, as an opportunity to share their interests or views with like minded people. All tastes are catered for amongst the 230+ global membership.

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POLICE WORLD Vol 64 No. 1, 2019