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The whiskey house

Flying Tumbler Irish Whiskey.

Independent, family-owned, and run by brothers Patrick and Thomas Walsh from Larch Grove — the farm at Ballytarsna, Nurney, Co. Carlow. Bonders, blenders and merchants: we source, mature, marry and bottle, curating from partner Irish distilleries. We do not distil, and we have never pretended to.

The name is a real breed of pigeon — a bird that climbs, throws itself backwards through the air for the sport of it, then finds its way home without fail. That is the whole brand in one sentence.

Patrick and Thomas Walsh at Larch Grove
Proudly bottled in Ireland 52°44′N · 6°52′W Master blend Irish barley Origin Green Ireland member
The bond

Where the casks actually sit.

A Revenue-approved bonded warehouse on the home farm at Larch Grove, in Co. Carlow in the south-east of Ireland. Everything inside is held under duty suspension — duty and VAT only fall due when whiskey leaves for bottling, which is why a cask can sit for years without a tax bill in between.

Two warehouses with racking for 5,000 casks, held at ambient Carlow temperature — no heating, no cooling, no tricks. A client cask goes on the same racking as ours, under the same lock, gauged on the same schedule, and insured at replacement value while in store.

ADDRESS Larch Grove, Ballytarsna,
Nurney, Co. Carlow, Ireland 52°44′N · 6°52′W
STATUS Revenue-approved warehouse. Stock held under duty suspension until bottling.
CAPACITY Racking for 5,000 casks across two warehouses. 58 cask finishes profiled to date.
VISITING Roughly 75 minutes from Dublin, an hour from Rosslare. Groups by appointment only.
On site
WAREHOUSING Two Revenue-bonded warehouses, ambient temperature, racking for 5,000 casks under duty suspension.
DISGORGING & VATTING Pumps, hoses and totes for disgorging, vatting and marrying — cask to tote to bottle without leaving the yard.
TESTING Bench kit for strength and temperature — meters, hydrometers, thermometers — and a sample library for every cask.
WATER & FILTRATION Our own water treatment and filtration unit for reduction water, plus whiskey filtration — never chill-filtered.
BOTTLING LINE A full line in-house: rinser, filler, capper and labeller. Bottling runs done here, not sent out to a third party.
PACKING & DISPATCH Tubing, casing, palletising and dispatch — or straight back into bond if the owner is not ready.
Racking inside the bond at Larch Grove
Light through the slatted door at Larch Grove
Casks racked in the bond
On the map

South Carlow, and easy to get to.

The bond is on the home farm at Ballytarsna, in the barley belt between Nurney and Bagenalstown — the Blackstairs on one side, the Barrow valley on the other. Not a visitor centre: a working farm with a warehouse on it, which is the point.

1 hr 15 From Dublin airport
1 hr From Rosslare ferry
20 min From Carlow town

Beds, food and a driver are arranged for group visits. Exact directions go out with the booking — the yard is not signposted.

What we actually do

Source, mature, gauge, vat, bottle, ship.

Six jobs, all of them done by hand at Larch Grove by the people whose name is on the label. Every photograph on this page was taken on site.

At a partner distillery beside the stills
STEP 01 Source the spirit We buy new make and maturing stock from partner Irish distilleries, standing at their stills to choose it. Then we hunt the wood — bourbon, Oloroso, rye, rum — and get it home to Carlow.
Casks racked against the warehouse wall
STEP 02 Rack it and wait Racked three high in a stone shed on the farm. No temperature tricks, no accelerated anything — Carlow weather and years of patience.
Gauging casks with a clipboard in the bond
STEP 03 Gauge and record Every cask drawn with a valinch, strength and volume read at temperature and written down. It goes into the stock account Revenue can audit.
Disgorging list and sample bottles
STEP 04 Vat and marry Disgorged cask by cask off a written list, sample by sample, then vatted and left to marry for weeks before anything is cut to strength.
Bottles on the filling heads
STEP 05 Bottle by hand Non-chill-filtered, no colouring, cut with soft Carlow water. Filled, capped, labelled and neck-tagged on our own small line.
Cases of The Bird palletised in the warehouse
STEP 06 Case it and ship it Cased, palletised and out to the USA, Ireland, the EU and Canada — or held in bond until the cask owner says go.
The details
Bung tool on a barrel
The bung tool, before anything else happens.
Drawing 2015 malt with a valinch
Drawing a 2015 malt straight off the rack.
Branded cask head with valinch
CBC042 — branded head, valinch in hand.
Chalked cask head
Chalk on the head: what it was, what it is now.
Sampling with a meter and tots
Meter and tots — strength before anything moves.
Patrick with sample bottles
Sample bottles lined up for the bench.
Patrick at the 2015 grain rack
Patrick at the 2015 grain rack.
Three bottles on the filling line
Three heads at a time. That is the whole line.
Neck tags going on bottles
Neck tags tied on by hand.
Bottles in protective netting
Netting on before the tubes go over.
Paper tubes from overhead
Paper tubes, filled and closed.
Detail of casks in the warehouse
Wood, hoops and slate. Nothing else needed.
The place itself
Two men with blueprints at the shed
Blueprints for the bond, before it existed.
Excavator during the warehouse build
Building it ourselves.
Barrels in the farm yard
First barrels into the yard.
Casks in the sunny yard at Larch Grove
A dry day in the yard.
A cask in the farmyard doorway
The doorway at Larch Grove.
Cask heads close up
Heads, numbered and dated.
Barley field and farm sheds
The barley field behind the sheds.
Patrick on the farm
Patrick, on the ground it all comes from.
The farm with the Blackstairs behind
The Blackstairs behind the farm.
The three founders at the barn
The three of us, at the barn.
What protects the cask

Paperwork, not promises.

A cask is an asset sitting in someone else's warehouse for years. Here is exactly what stands behind it.

OWNERSHIP A named certificate Cask number, fill date, wood, litres and original strength, issued to the named owner. Transferable if they sell or gift it.
OVERSIGHT Revenue-approved store The warehouse operates under Revenue approval with stock accounts we have to keep and can be audited on. Duty suspended until bottling.
INSURANCE Covered while in store Insured at replacement value against fire, flood and theft for the whole time it sits with us, at no extra charge.
RECORDS Gauged and reported Strength and volume checked on schedule, with a written report to the owner each year — including what the angels took.
SOURCING Named distillery, named wood Owners are told which partner distillery the spirit came from and where the wood was before it held theirs. No mystery liquid.
CERTIFIED Origin Green Ireland member Origin Green and Bord Bia Members of Ireland's national sustainability programme, and audited on it. Irish barley, Irish bottling, Irish paperwork.
The range

Three bottles on shelf.

Non-chill-filtered, no added colouring, 700ml, in paper tubes. Selling today in the USA, Ireland, the EU and Canada.

The Bird lying on a cask lid
The Bird 44% ABV / 88 PROOF · 700ML

Triple-distilled single malt and single grain, aged at least five years in ex-bourbon. The house pour, and the one that took 92 points in Whisky Advocate.

The Tippler on stacked boxes
The Tippler 46% ABV / 92 PROOF · 700ML

An unruly pot still and grain blend, aged in bourbon, Oloroso and ex-rye casks. Louder, spicier, built for cocktails.

The Roller on weathered wood
The Roller 43% ABV / 86 PROOF · 700ML

Triple-distilled, ex-bourbon, finished in ex-Jamaican rum casks. Clove, allspice and ripe banana — the party starter.

Press and credentials

Written about, and audited on it.

92 points Whisky Advocate, The Bird
Origin Green Ireland member
Origin Green
Bord Bia Certified, and audited on it
USA · Ireland
EU · Canada Where the range sells today

For the press pack, high-res bottle shots and founder photography, get in touch through the main site.

Forbes Forbes Post-St. Patrick’s Day, it’s time to talk about new Irish whiskeys Mar 2023 Read → Whisky Advocate Whisky Advocate The Bird, reviewed — 92 points Dec 2025 Read → The Irish Times The Irish Times An uncommon tale of Tom and two counties Apr 2023 Read → Time Out Time Out A craft whiskey maker on the best pint of Guinness in Boston Mar 2023 Read → Boston Herald Boston Herald New and stylish ways to celebrate St Patrick’s Day in Boston Mar 2023 Read → NBC Boston NBC Boston Tasty Irish-inspired drinks with Flying Tumbler Mar 2025 Read → The Spirits Business The Spirits Business Flying Tumbler Irish whiskey expands US presence Apr 2022 Read → Irish Whiskey Magazine Irish Whiskey Magazine New initiatives at Flying Tumbler Irish Whiskey Mar 2026 Read → Farmers Journal Farmers Journal Flying Tumbler — pour, sip and soar in Carlow Jul 2026 Read → The Whiskey Wash The Whiskey Wash Breaks ground on new production facility in Carlow Mar 2026 Read →
Supported by
Government of Ireland, Project Ireland 2040, Our Rural Future, co-funded by the European Union
Carlow County Council
Carlow Local Community Development Committee
Carlow County Development Partnership

Flying Tumbler has been supported through the LEADER programme by Carlow County Development Partnership and Carlow LCDC, co-funded by the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht and the European Union under Our Rural Future.