In the shadow of Knockmealdown Mountains, an ancient craft is being brought back to life.<\/p>\n
The workshop of O\u2019Mahony Craft Cooperage is strewn with old barrels used for storing, transporting or aging foods. There\u2019s an old butter churn, called a tumble churn, rummaged from the back of a shed, ready to be restored; the kilter still perfect despite the dusty darkness of its former home.<\/p>\n
A herring barrel, used to store salted herrings, has a tap low down for siphoning off the fish oil once used as fuel for lamps.<\/p>\n
Everywhere are newly hewn tankards, miniature barrels, and plunge butter churns in various stages of completion.<\/p>\n
This is the domain of Killian O\u2019Mahony, the first white cooperage to be established in Ireland in nearly a century.<\/p>\n
In 2013, Killian became the first apprentice to enter the cooperage of Midleton Distillery for 40 years. By 2017, he was a qualified cooper, and he has spent the past decade repairing and restoring tens of thousands of whiskey barrels that pass through the distillery.<\/p>\n
But this was only the start of his journey. The rest, as they say, really was history. Family history.<\/p>\n
As he began his apprenticeship, Killian learned that his great-great-grandfather, Bartholomew (Batt) Ahern, had been the chief blacksmith at Midleton Distillery until 1932, with his son (Killian\u2019s great-grandfather) continuing the trade. Then he learned more.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was given a book by Mary O\u2019Mahony Lupton, who lives in west Texas. She gathered the O\u2019Mahony\u2019s history beginning with Henry O\u2019Mahony, my great, great grand uncle who was an apprentice cooper in Skibbereen,\u201d says Killian.<\/p>\n
Henry fled Ireland on a boat to New York because of his association with the Land League, left with just his hammer and driver, and started hooping apple barrels in the Big Apple. He had been a white cooper making churns, tankards and pails, but spent his days dry coopering, hooping apple barrels – mundane work for a skilled white cooper, says Killian.<\/p>\n
![\"Killian\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/5228632_5_articleinline_ECHO_20FEATURES_20Killian_20O_20Mahony_Image_20Credit_Kate_20Ryan_5.jpg\" "\\"Killian\u2019s")
Killian\u2019s miniaturised barrels serve a new wave of drinks appreciation by people wanting to age wines and spirits at home, or bars and restaurants looking to offer customers a unique liquid experience in the glass.\u00a0Picture: Kate Ryan<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the last 13 years, I\u2019ve not just been piecing my family history together, but piecing the history of the coopering trade in the country,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Family is all to Killian, and the cooperage and smallholding he owns and shares with his family \u2013 wife, Hollie, and son, Cody.<\/p>\n
As a licenced deer hunter, the prize of wild meat has become their main protein source.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a very different lifestyle to what other 36-year-olds have, but it\u2019s all part of a bigger plan to create a resilient life for his family, and the cooperage is central to that.<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt\u2019s a family cooperage. The goal is to have something that can be passed down the family, generation to generation, for the next 100 years or more. I suppose a white coopering apprenticeship would be a huge historical feat; hopefully, it\u2019ll be for somebody in the family.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
So, what is white coopering, and how is it different to any other kind of barrel making?<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have wet coopering used in brewing and distilling to keep liquids inside the cask and the outside dry. Dry coopering is for transporting things like apples, grains, and flour, keeping the moisture outside and dryness inside.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen white coopering makes vessels for household use: tankards, churns, pails, tubs.\u201d<\/p>\n
These everyday vessels were associated with an old Irish tradition called the \u2018newlywed ticket\u2019, the precursor to the modern-day wedding or housewarming gift.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody in the family would chip in for the newlywed ticket or docket and go down to the local white coopering cooperage to get their two tankards, two gills, maybe a noggin; a wash tub, a pail, and a six, eight or ten litre domestic dash churn. It would be the full kit of everything needed for their own family,\u201d explains Killian.<\/p>\n
The last white cooper in Ireland was Ned Gavin, who worked up until the 1980s.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was the last person in Ireland famously known for it,\u201d says Killian. \u201cBut as far as I can tell, ours is the first white cooperage in Ireland in 100 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
His love for white coopering came from time spent with a cooper in Scotland, Ian Andrews.<\/p>\n
\u201cI met him for the first time in 2013 when he was 72 years old and visited him several times over the years. He really inspired me to learn as much as I could about white or household coopering, but he passed before I learned about my family connection to the craft.\u201d<\/p>\n
At its zenith, Ireland had 11,000 coopers, up until the end of the 1800s when demand for them dropped as new methods for storing and transporting foodstuffs became more widespread.<\/p>\n
Today, the coopering trade is on the rise again, fuelled by the global demand for Irish whiskey.<\/p>\n
But white coopering has a different market; a gentler approach from the hard physicality of what Killian refers to as \u2018industrial\u2019 coopering.<\/p>\n
Instead, white coopering is about form, function, and servicing a growing interest in traditional skills around food, in domestic settings and from chefs curious about what happens when food meets wood.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the most niche I could possibly put all my skills into,\u201d he says, \u201crestoring and repairing old, coopered vessels. For me, it\u2019s about asking how can we get these vessels back into people\u2019s houses? A large part of that was coming up with products that work and people want.\u201d<\/p>\n
What people want are butter churns for making their own butter, and miniature barrels for aging their own spirits and wines.<\/p>\n
The barrels are really where Killian\u2019s skill in design and an experienced eye for interesting retired barrels come into its own.<\/p>\n
His miniaturised barrels serve a new wave of drinks appreciation by people wanting to age wines and spirits at home, or bars and restaurants looking to offer customers a unique liquid experience in the glass.<\/p>\n
Killian\u2019s handmade two-litre casks are crafted from retired distillery and winery barrels that are no longer useful for aging drinks on a commercial scale. \u201cThe distillery says the barrel cannot contribute fast enough to the spirit to be valuable in a warehouse where space is at a premium, so they sell them off,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut what we then have, especially with American oak, is 150-year-old wood that has had two decades of seasoning where whiskey, scotch or wine has soaked into the barrel. I buy them up; I have different woods (oak, chestnut, maple) and preserve the part of the stave with all that seasoning to make our mini barrels and tankards.\u201d<\/p>\n
Irish whiskey has become a premium product in recent years, and consumers have been very happy to go along for the ride. That build-up of knowledge has paved the way for the next frontier in whiskey appreciation \u2013 personalisation.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople\u2019s eyes are opening to the fact you can turn a standard bottle of whiskey or wine into a premium bottle within days or weeks in a miniature barrel in your house. It\u2019s giving people control of their food and their drinking experience,\u201d explains Killian.<\/p>\n
\u201cI keep a standard range of our American and European oak brass and steel finish casks and tankards, but what has really been growing are custom casks.<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI made a custom cask out of French oak that had crystallisation from wine that had been in it before, which turned into a caramel after charring. He put Poit\u00edn into it and has been aging for the last six months. It\u2019s probably one of the best whiskies in the country, and nobody knows about it!\n <\/p>\n
\u201cI have made casks for private whiskey clubs too; for example, a European or sherry-seasoned cask for their own private opening. There\u2019s nothing stopping a bar owner buying a barrel, filling it with what they\u2019d like, and calling it their house special whiskey, wine, or spirit and selling it by the measure.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Killian, the ambition is clear: for O\u2019Mahony Craft Cooperage to be the name people think of for premium crafted casks, premium wood selection, and customisation for cask and churn.<\/p>\n
Killian says in a time of AI, people are recognising the value of things \u201cmade by humans; made by hands\u201d as there is a desire for connection with the objects that inhabit our daily lives. \u201cGet in contact with your food. It changes your experience immediately,\u201d he says. \u201cWith white coopering, I\u2019m able to use all my experience to make a modern churn with traditional techniques to serve the modern purpose.<\/p>\n
![\"Wood](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/5228635_5_articleinline_ECHO_20FEATURES_20Killian_20O_20Mahony-Wood_20Staves_Image_20Credit_Kate_20R.jpeg\" "\\"Wood")
Wood staves at Killian\u2019s cooperage.\u00a0Picture: Kate Ryan<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I wasn\u2019t prepared for or expecting is the connection people have with butter churns, or how much people want hands-on with a plunge churn, or the practicality of a tumble churn in a commercial kitchen today,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cBunratty Castle commissioned a tumble churn for the bean an t\u00ed that make butter. Another chef wants one so they can churn butter for their guests.\u201d<\/p>\n
This rise in interest in white coopering has met Killian at exactly the right time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe gap was minimal from when I was able to pick [this craft] up to when it\u2019s actually being lost,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m seeing these people pass away; I\u2019m hearing their stories for the last time. I have to piece them together and do something to give back to a trade I\u2019ve been able to raise a family on and build a life from.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the tankard and mini barrels are mainly made from oak, the churns are made using maple. A traditional wood used for butchers\u2019 blocks, maple is a food grade wood because of its natural antimicrobial properties, making it ideal for butter churns.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe use oak for tankards, barrels, and anything we want to impart flavours onto. Whereas the maple, we\u2019re not looking to impart flavours, but for it to be food safe for churning. Maple makes sure it\u2019s food safe after you clean it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
In August, the cooperage officially launched and immediately sold out of miniature barrels. The current work plan is all commissioned vessels destined for homes around the world.<\/p>\n
\n \u201cEvery conversation I have, it\u2019s someone\u2019s first time coming back to this. Depending on what they\u2019re looking for or what the flavour profile is, it\u2019s bringing us in different directions of coopering and what I can do for them.\n <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really focused on the traditional vessel into the modern home,\u201d says Killian. \u201cThe more people that get in contact with vessels they want repaired or their own thoughts and ideas they want to see can happen, I learn more of what the business is capable of and where we\u2019re going. It\u2019s not just the whiskey enthusiast or wine sommelier, but chefs, and gifting. The enjoyable jobs have been custom commissions like the herring cask, butter churns, custom casks to customer specifications and palate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe big message is it\u2019s here; it\u2019s back, and this is happening. I\u2019m not just telling the stories and wishing anymore. The vessels are being made every day, the barrels are being recycled and upcycled into new lives, and there\u2019s literally vessels going all over the world from a family white cooperage in East Cork. That\u2019s wild!<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not that I want a barrel in every home, but I want vessels people want and need in their home again, and to be there to provide it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the shadow of Knockmealdown Mountains, an ancient craft is being brought back to life. The workshop of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627367,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[169823,72,46,89730,61,60],"class_list":["post-627366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-echo-instagram","tag-business","tag-cork","tag-craft","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}