Courting The Dame

I recently wrote about The Bankers pub on the corner of Trinity Street and Dame Lane and some readers have asked me about the Kinahan Distillery and its Whiskey. Daniel Kinahan was born in the Dublin suburb, then the countryside of Goatstown in 1756. He would create one of the early global successes of Irish business ‘Kinahan’s Whiskey’ and in particular ‘Kinahan’s LL Whiskey’. The Kinahan story begins in 1779 on Trinity Street where today the Bankers public house now stands. He opened his business originally known as ‘Kinahan and Gregg’ and quickly expanded when they purchased the entire stock of wines and spirits from Messers Beatty on Andrew Street. As a grocer he took full advantage of the nearby Sugar House on Dame Court and began to distil whiskey and port. It was an instant success and became a favourite of the Lord Lieutenant in Ireland, the Royal representative in Ireland. By 1807 Charles Lennox, the then Lord Lieutenant was so impressed with their whiskey that L.L. (Lo...

At the corner of Dame Lane and Trinity Street (once known as Trinity Lane) is The Bankers Pub.  Originally the site of one of Ireland's most successful distilleries in the 19th Century, Daniel Kinahan's whiskey could at one time be found in more venues around the world than Jameson. In 1818, Kinahan's business became so successful that he moved from Trinity Street to the Carlisle Building at O'Connell Bridge. After being used as a candle makers warehouse the building was redeveloped and a public house was born. In the mid 1800's the pub was in the hands of one of the then big pub chains in the city Fortune and Co. Subsequent owners included a publican named Mr Bagnaill who then sold it to Patrick Cahill  who sold his pub on January 13th 1888. In 1916 the owner was Cavan born Simon Tormey when the pub was known as the Trinity Inn. He passed away in 1927 leaving the running of the popular pub to his nephews. Today the pub is in the hands of Alan ...