Maisy Mc Loughlin…
A woman of Irish history, becomes a woman in Irish Whiskey
In the year 1913, April, Maisy Mc Loughlin was born in a Dublin tenement building, under British rule. Four months later, in August 1913, the Dublin “Lockout” took place, affecting every man, woman and child in the city. They called it the most significant industrial dispute in Irish history. It was a fallout of epic proportions, as 20,000 workers took action against 300 employers. What happened to follow, changed workers’ rights in Ireland for all time. Irish workers subsequently won the right to unionise. But women's rights still had a bit to go..
By 1916, the world was at war with the First World War, and so, this massive distraction to Ireland’s historic coloniser, Britain, now gave rise to another chapter in Ireland’s decades’ old fight for freedom. Just after Maisy Mc Loughlin’s third birthday, the streets of Dublin filled with further unrest. However, this time it was not the sound of marchers seeking human rights for workers, it was the sound of gunfire. The Easter Rising, also known as The Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection during Easter week in 1916, a rebellion against British rule in Ireland. Dublin’s Abbey Street and Sackville (now O Connell) Street were left in ruins, as the British military response was swift and unforgiving. While ultimately the uprising was a military failure, the Irish public was now turning away from “Home Rule” and looking towards a fully independent Ireland.
By 1922, young Maisy Mc Loughlin was nine years old and was now living within an Irish Free State. Maisy was already well on her way to mastering the finer aspects of apprenticing as a hand- sewing seamstress. The addition of being further trained within the skillset of “Tailoress” was firmly on her horizon. This training (passed down from mother to daughter, aunt to niece) would give Maisy the ability to not only hand sew, hem, and alter, but to create, everything from fine gowns & men’s suits, to apparel for the wealthier classes. It would accelerate Maisy in both working and social circles. Resources were limited, so a talented tailoress would always have a shilling or two in her pocket.
But something modern and highly advanced for a simple Dublin seamstress was on the way from America: The Singer Sewing Machine. While production of this highly sought after sewing machine slowed down and stopped during WWII, by the time Maisy had married and started her family, her ambition elevated to acquiring a Singer “treadle” sewing machine. This would help elevate her fittings, mending and creations to a higher level and therefore elevation to financial independence.
But the economic unfolding of Irish history, effectively beginning in 1922, when the then The Irish Free State won its independence from Britain, remained largely intertwined with Britain. In fact the state continued to be plagued by poverty and emigration and until an upturn led to the reversal of long term population decline, Maisy’s main stream of income continued to be paramount to her and her family’s survival. Furthermore, her husband boarded a boat to Britain in an effort to earn a living wage to send home to his wife and children..
From then, Maisy, now a wife, mother & daughter, had days filled with child rearing and nights filled with quiet sewing. A bottle of Guinness with the occasional nip of Irish whiskey consoled and rewarded Maisy as a sole parent… She was one of thousands of Irish women who often dreamed of a life reunited with her husband, reunited as a family. But as the days slowly turned to months, and the months turned to years, Maisy Mc Loughlin never boarded that boat to Britain or reunited with her husband. Instead, she chose to stay in Dublin, and go it alone. Maisy was now a grandmother, she had survived lockouts and bullets, and turned cotton thread into shillings and pence.
Maisy Mc Loughlin lived into her 99th year. Born MaryAnn O’Neill in a tenement building in the Liberties, Dublin, in 1913, she was a native Dublin Liberties woman. This was an area of Dublin traditionally associated with the market traders and local family-owned businesses, as well as the Guinness brewery, whiskey distilling, the textiles industry and tenement housing. She was a daughter of trade and a lover of all things fine and bespoke.
In 1966, another MaryAnn (now named MarieAnn), was born, granddaughter of Maisy, and also a lover of all things fine and bespoke..
MarieAnn, also born in the Liberties of Dublin, now works as a Craft Spirits label creator, weaving and sewing labels together, instead of gowns. A former nurse and flight attendant, MarieAnn began training in brand and product creation around 2007.
In 2020 MarieAnn founded The Runway 28 Beverage Co, a Guaranteed Irish affiliated portfolio of fine and bespoke spirits. Having previously worked with Listoke Distillery in Co. Louth Ireland, MarieAnn developed her own whiskey label in homage to and in recognition of her grandmother, Maisy. With the assistance and brokerage of Listoke Distillery, she commenced a collaboration with the Great Northern Distillery (GND) of Ireland. Her sights were set on commissioning her first whiskey endeavour, and so Maisy Mc Loughlin’s Grand Irish Whiskey was born, a whiskey in homage to not only her grandmother, but also to the hard working women of Ireland.
GND is a private 100% Irish owned company. It is owned by the extended Teeling family, Jim Finn and David Hynes. They created and operated the Cooley Distillery and Lockes of Kilbeggan, until they sold them to Beam Suntory in 2012.
The Great Northern Distillery created a young whiskey for MarieAnn, an expression of whiskey that is inspired by the young seamstress! Much like the essence of Maisy Mc Loughlin’s young spirit, full of character, this Irish whiskey has captured that same expression of Maisy’s young life in the manifestation of a young, three year old expression. It is a triple distilled Irish whiskey, with subtle floral notes, mixed with a hint of honey and a touch of vanilla, resonating as bright but smooth on the palate. It also brings a combination of toasted grains with caramel, with the slightest hint of pear and apple apparent. Maisy Mc Loughlin's whiskey finishes with a long lasting warmth, and oak flavours lingering gently… which aligns with MarieAnn’s wish to honour the essence of a woman, who lived a robust, but elegant life…
Maisy Mc Loughlin lived through and experienced the birth of a nation, the growth of an economy and the elevation and evolvement of women’s rights, education, and autonomy in Ireland. She is one of many Irish women who paved the way for “Mná na hÉireann”. She sewed and stitched a pattern for future generations to follow…Thank you Maisy.
Find out more about Maisy Mc Loughlin’s Whiskey here: About us — Maisy Mc Loughlin’s Whiskey
Article written by MarieAnn Mc Loughlin Dwyer
