‘Grain to glass’ distillery adding value to beef and tillage farm — and sticking to the spirit of sustainability
Diversifying into distilling was a way for Morgan Ging to make his Kilkenny more profitable while remaining eco-friendly. Now he is offering tours as well as selling premium whiskey, and the ‘pot ale’ in his Herefords’ diet is improving the beef’s flavour
Morgan Ging wanted to ensure that he had a profitable yet sustainable farm enterprise to hand over to his family.
So, after generations of traditional beef and tillage farming, he decided to diversify part of his holding, just outside Kilkenny city, into a new “grain to glass” distilling business.
“Myself and my wife Anne both came from farming backgrounds, and the plan was always to buy our own farm, which we then did in 2002,” he says. “Since then, we’ve been farming Hereford beef cattle and tillage.”
Morgan soon realised that farmers tend to get the worst deal when something ‘gives’ in the food production industry.
“Farmers seem to be the ones who get squeezed if something goes wrong. For this reason, traditional farming can be futile, and I wanted to make sure that whatever I’ll be handing down to my family would be more stable,” he says.
He had experience in growing malting barley to contract for Minch Malt while working on his father’s farm before buying his own, and he had the idea of starting up a ‘single estate’ distillery, almost 25 years ago.
“My father and I discussed it and then applied for a distiller’s licence, but we were unsuccessful in getting it back then. Looking back, maybe it was a good thing because the whiskey and spirits industry certainly wasn’t what it is today,” he says.
Fast-forward a quarter of a century, and the bull beef crisis prompted Morgan to refocus on the idea of a distillery.
“We started having problems getting bulls slaughtered and it really highlighted how unpredictable the sector was,” he says. “So, I spoke to my accountant, my wife and my sons about how we could diversify and add value to the farm while maximising sustainability.
“Dairy farming seemed like a profitable avenue, but it wasn’t something my sons were particularly interested in, and I think you have to love what you do. We all agreed that starting our own grain-to-glass operation would be the best.”
Morgan has always considered the environment on his holding.
“I’ve never wanted to have the farm packed with stock and to over-use the land. Being eco-friendly and sustainable have always been extremely important factors for me.”
The Gings started by speaking to their customs officer, who came out to their farm and pointed them in the right direction.
“Licences had started to free up so went straight and got plans drawn up,” says Morgan.
The county council were happy with the plans, and the Gings were given their distiller’s licence.
They began work on their new venture, keeping everything on the farm as undisturbed as possible.
“There was an existing building that we wanted to use. We wanted our new business to fit in, rather than stand out on the farm, so we took down the farm building, as it couldn’t be suitably converted, and put up a new building, completely replicating the look of the old one on the outside,” says Morgan.
He also transformed the old stables on the farm into a tasting room, which is where all Ballykeefe Distillery’s tours now begin and finish. The stained-glass window, high ceilings and single-tree bar counter are much admired by tourists, who have made the distillery their number one choice in Kilkenny on Tripadvisor for the past four years.
In 2016, the Gings had their stills installed, after they had finished work on their new business building, which now includes an office and canteen, as well as a state-of-the-art heat recovery system.
Morgan and Anne and their son Aidan in the distillery
“When you boil the alcohol, it turns to vapour,” says Morgan. “It must then be cooled back down. The usual way to do this is to send it straight out to a cooling tower before returning it to the stills.
“However, we have done it differently and have diverted it so that we can use the hot air to heat our office and canteen, before returning the cooled alcohol to the stills.
“It’s something that was important to me because of the sustainability factor.”
Morgan and Anne’s eldest son, Kevin, takes care of a lot of the farm work and sows the malting barley used for the distillation process in early March and harvests it himself in the first week in August.
Rye grown on the farm and used in the distilling process
The Gings commissioned their first whiskey in 2017 and have gone on to make their own vodka, gin and poitin.
The theme of sustainability carries through all aspects of the business as there is zero waste left over from the alcohol production process.
“It was always my dream to have a single-estate distillery whereby the grain used to make our drinks was sown and harvested by us and the alcohol distilled by us, all on our own family farm,” says Morgan.
“I wanted to have zero waste, so the pot ale and distiller’s ale is fed back to our livestock, which gives our beef a delicious, unique and sweet flavour. Our Hereford beef has a beautiful marbling to it and it’s sweet because of what our cattle are fed.”
Finishing cattle on Morgan Ging's farm at Ballykeefe, Co. KIlkenny. Picture: Alf Harvey.
The family supply some of Kilkenny’s top restaurants with beef, after it is processed by local butcher John Murphy in Callan.
Prior to the pandemic, the farm and distillery were open to the public for tours.
“We loved welcoming people here and look forward to a time when we can resume that,” says Morgan.
“For future tours we plan to work in conjunction with local hotels which stock our beef, where visitors can stay at one of the hotels and enjoy one of our steaks before visiting us to sample our spirits.”
The cattle have bee a hit with many visitors, despite Morgan’s initial fears.
“We initially thought about moving the cattle sheds because otherwise, the livestock would be extremely near the business,” says Morgan.
“We didn’t know how people would react to seeing the farm animals in such proximity to the distillery, but they have become a great attraction. People love seeing the animals and the workings of our farm running alongside our farm busines.”
Ballykeefe Distillery’s label represents the family’s heritage and has become a big part of their business.
“I designed the logo of a farmer ploughing the fields with three horses,” says Morgan. “I showed it to my father, who was quite elderly at the time and he was so surprised.
“He asked me where I got the picture of my grandfather ploughing, and I said it wasn’t a picture, but just a design I had constructed to represent our family’ farming history.
“My father told me that my grandfather always ploughed the grain field with three horses, the third horse was a horse in training. The man in the picture looks remarkably like my grandfather. I knew then that we had found our label.”
Q&A: ‘Insurance is required for a range of risks. It’s one of our biggest costs’
How long did it take to get your business off the ground?
I incorporated the business Ballykeefe Distillery in 2015 and we first turned on the stills in August 2017. All in all, it took about two years to get everything up and running.
Did you find any supports bodies/agencies helpful when starting up?
We did everything ourselves. I researched everything and designed the plant how I wanted it. It was all about self-driven research in our case.
Was insurance required?
Yes, insurance is required for a range of risks, from public liability to product liability and the stock and buildings themselves. The insurance bill is one of the biggest expenses.
Did you need a particular licence?
Yes, we needed a distiller’s licence.
Where can your products be found?
We are nationwide with Supervalu and our whiskey can be found online at www.ballykeefedistillery.ie and in The Wine Centre in Kilkenny, which has exclusivity to our first-release whisky.
What has been your biggest challenge to date?
Covid: it has wiped out tourism and closed all the bars and restaurants. Nobody foresaw such a situation.
Morgan and Aidan with a 1958 Allis-Chalmers tractor originally owned by Morgan's father Edward, and still in regular use
How do you market your business?
Social media has been the most cost-efficient way. We also gain a lot of visibility through our tours — we had been number one Traveller’s Choice on Tripadvisor in Kilkenny for four successive years.
