Clandestine Trade in Illegal Irish Poteen Liquor Thrives in Western Ireland Wilds

Leaning on a gatepost in the heart of western Ireland, a ruddy-faced farmer looked furtively over his shoulder and said with a knowing wink, “I could have a bottle here by six o’clock.”

The clandestine trade in Irish poteen, an illegal whiskey, is alive and well in the wilds of the remote and beautiful Connemara region here despite the efforts of the clergy and the law to stamp it out.

Also known as moonshine, the hard stuff, or mountain dew, poteen is a fiery tipple normally made from a mixture of barley, sugar, yeast, water and sometimes potatoes and malt.

“This is the real McCoy, pure as a mountain stream,” said 62-year-old Joe, who has been drinking poteen all his life. “You’ll have to hold the top on the bottle,” said one of his sons. “It’ll addle your brains,” said another.

About half the price of legal whiskey, poteen, sometimes spelled poitin , is traditionally consumed in great quantities at Irish parties, particularly around Christmas, St. Patrick’s Day and Easter.

The hills, lakes and islands of Connemara provide good cover for secret poteen stills, with some of the finest poteen coming from the distillers of Lettermore, Lettermullen and Rosmuck.

Before the invention of bottled gas the police kept their eyes peeled for telltale spirals of peat smoke in isolated places where the drink was being prepared.

The pungent aroma of the boiling “wash” of ingredients made remote spots vital for a poteen maker because being caught in the act carries a serious fine and the confiscation of valuable poteen-making equipment.

Recipes are guarded jealously. The poteen wash is boiled over a flame and the steam is run through a home-made still, usually a coil of narrow copper piping, or worm, in a barrel through which cold water flows.

The police stage periodic raids on the stills to try to keep the business in check. “It’s like a cross between prohibition and (the British comedy film) ‘Whiskey Galore,’ ” said one poteen drinker. Stacks of empty bottles outside the still can be a giveaway.

Police say those caught in possession of poteen usually have a quick tale to hand. “The usual excuse is ‘medicinal purposes,’ ” said one police officer.

But sometimes the drinkers can be more inventive. “Some will tell you they have it for a sick cow or to rub on an injured greyhound,” the police officer said.

Stills normally supply a small circle of established friends and customers. Poteen makers say the police strike when a still is getting too big or attracting too much attention.

There is a darker side to poteen-making in British-ruled Northern Ireland, where some stills are controlled by militants in the sectarian and religious conflict.

No one knows how much poteen the Irish drink, but it finds its way to most corners of Ireland and even to the great army of Irish expatriates from Liverpool to New York to Australia. Irish auto workers in England smuggle it in empty Guinness beer bottles.

Meaning “little pot” in Irish, poteen was originally produced by poor agricultural laborers and has been firmly rooted in Irish folklore ever since. Irish immigrants’ secret poteen recipes were used in the United States during Prohibition.

“The macho men drink it neat,” said Joe, who says it can also be mixed with fruit juice for a punch or can be drunk with milk as a pick-me-up. Some poteen makers put in a drop of tea to make it look like legal whiskey.

If the liquid is run through the still three times it is perfectly safe in small quantities, according to poteen drinkers. But one-run poteen, as well as poteen to which the unscrupulous add commercial alcohol, can be dangerous.

There have been moves to legalize poteen-making to make it into a cottage industry in the remote areas of Ireland, which are badly off and in need of new employment, but the government has resisted this, as have some of the drinkers.