Happiness is finding an Irish whiskey distillery with your name on it.
Yes, friends, there is a Locke’s Distillery and I have been there.
These days the distillery is known as Kilbeggan, the name of the small town in County Meath where it is located, and there have been a few changes of ownership; it’s now part of the Beam/Suntory portfolio. But the original name is still up on the chimney and when you ask the hotel to get you a taxi they tell the driver to take you to Locke’s, so I am totally claiming it.
We’re probably not related by blood (the Lockes in my family are Welsh/English).
But we certainly are kindred spirits.
I visited Kilbeggan in September as part of a 10-day visit to Ireland. Because I am a big chicken (and unadventurous driver) I did not drive but took the train from Dublin to Tullamore for about 20 euros. I stayed in the Tullamore Court Hotel, which is large and modern so not so much with the olde country charm but it does have the virtues of being close to the train station (and walking distance from the Tullamore D.E.W. distillery), comfortable, clean and reasonable. I paid around $70 for a large double and taxied over to Kilbeggan, which cost 15-20 euros.
I did not get to go in this car, which would have been cool. 
But I was driven in a very fine Mercedes Continue reading “Locke’s Whiskey”