Allman‘s distillery was founded in 1820. James C. Allman converted the mill in Bandon, Co. Cork, to a whiskey distillery.

Allman‘s Distillery became one the the most successful Irish whiskey distilleries in the 19th century.

Alfred Barnard visited the distillery in 1886:

„In the year 1826 the present proprietors turned the buildings into a Distillery, and when first fitted up, the works did not turn out more than 60,000 gallons yearly, but the Statistical Records of the country inform us that, after spending many thousands of pounds on improvements, in the year 1836, the Bandon Distillery was making nearly 200,000 gallons annually, and employing upwards of a hundred people. Even then, the Distillery buildings were of little note: now in this year of grace, 1886, they are the chief feature of the locality, and the proprietors are the largest employers of labour in any distillery outside of any city in Ireland...

Some of the Grain Lofts are of six floors, and at the time contained 50,000 barrels of grain, but this does not at all represent the requirements of the season. The mode of receiving the corn into these huge Granaries is unlike any we have seen in our travels. The loaded carts wait their turn in passing through a covered way to the Receiving Corn Hopper, which, in shape, is not unlike a pulpit, at an enclosed corner of which presides the corn sampling clerk, who duly tests the grain, which is tumbled form the sacks into this receptacle, where, through an opening at the lowest part, it falls into a metal scale below, which holds about a barrel of grain; here stands another clerk, who, without touching the scale, by the movement of a balance handle, registers the weight and tips the corn into a hopper below, across the bottom of which is stretched an iron riddle or grill to catch the straws or husks before the corn falls into the elevators...

The Still House...with its outer walls covered with lichens, moss, and ferns, is the oldest part of the works, and contains five Old Pot Stills - two Wash and three Spirit - heated with open furnaces. Their contents are severally two of 16,000, one of 12,000, and two of 4,000 gallons.“

See also: Bandon (Allman‘s Distillery Papers) 2002:

http://www.nli.ie/pdfs/mss%20lists/111_BandonDistillery.pdf

See also: List of Allman Distillery Workers from August 1883

http://www.bandon-genealogy.com/Allman_Distillery_Workers_1883.htm

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