The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-07-30
POTEEN HUNTING IN IRELAND.
ILLICIT STILLS OF THE WILD
VEST COUNTRY.
Product OF Barren Islands. Made In Crudest
Utensils and Carried by Night Over
Boys and Mountain Passes to Evade
tho Omcials-Hunters and Hunted.


Utensils and Carried by Night Over
Bogs and Mountain Passes to Evade
tho Onlcials-Hunters and Hunted.
The wild west of Ireland Is the natural
home Of "poteen,' or illicit whisky. This Is
because the loneliness and remoteness OF
the spots chosen for making it, almost in
accessible through the mountains and bogs,
save to those who know something about
tho country, are all in favor Of the spnug-
glers escaping detection; while its network
OF mountain lakes and small running
streams affords the necessary cold water
for condensng the distilled fumes into
spirit during the cooling process, writes
The Gael in the New England Liquor Jour
nal
The report Of the Commissioners Of In
land Revenue for 1895 shows that the num-
Der of detections of illicit distillation was
39e-5 in England, in Scotland, and 1888
In Ireland.
sweeter and dearer beyond any sParlia-
ment whislly"-by which expression he
denotes that sort which has paid the tax
imposed by the Saxon Governments this
fiery fluid to the heart of every true peasant
son of Connaught And in the interests
Of truth it must be added that those who
inhabit the coast counties, from Kerry to
Donegal, inclusive, are also fully alive to
its seductive merits. Indeed, many doc
tors Qocal, OF course) will tell you that
well made poteen is better in sickness than
the adulterated whisky usually met with in
the small public houses in this region OF
poverty; for in the Connemara country, at
any rate, the illicit whisky is made OF pure
malt; though ruIror has it that the less par
~ I,ko 80 60 IN
satisfied with firewater mainly made
from molasses, potatoes-aye, sometimes
from almost anything you pie ae.
But to realize all the hunlor and wild,
reckless spirit shown in prosecuting this
precaTious industry one should take a
Poteen hunting is about as exeiiag as deer
stalking and fox hunting con blned, and
there are great accompanying hardships
to he endured.
The best time to catch men making it is
naturally about Christn astide or the New
Year, when our northern winters are, 10
say the least Of it, Indictment, and especially
so, think, In the mountainous west Of
Ireland, where rain seems to be the norm a /
condition Of affairs. Tren endous tranps
through mountains and boys (the latter
often unsafe), and night trips of ten or
an opcn boat, often in rain or frost. are
cenei ally necessary in order to reach SUE
pected places undetected before dawn.
] have seen beat 3 crew after rowing in
the darkness nearly all night, and striking
on and showing off from, one would think
nearly every submerged rock in the lake,
find then selves at dawn near the spot
where they first lost their bearings.
It Is always called "the stuff" in the
trade. You first prepare your barrels of
wash" or ground malt properly fermented,
which you can test as TO its fitness for dis
filling nv throwing in a handful Of dry
oats and seeing whether they sink or swim
in the liurid, These barrels the police
occasionally almost walk into, conceal
in lonesome places or on barren islands inthe
lakes by burying them nearly up to. the
top rim and covering all with few boards
or poles and with layer Of grass, DC.
You iii YOUR still with wash and
licht a fire under it. The still is huge
round tin utensil riveted and alright, with
a convex bottom like that Of black bottle, to
concentrate the fire underneath, andnarrow-
inp at the neck into which is fitted( land the
Joint also made quite airtight) worm.
Now, a worm, which Is worth three or
four popnds sterling merely as old copper,
IA long pipe or tube Cooled in a spiral TO
give as much surface as possible to the cold
water outside), through which the fumes
or steam driven of nv the heat from the
confined liquor in the still must psss and in
which they are condensed by the external
cold into LIQUID spirit, which Is caurht at
the end Of the pipe IN q bucket, as 1t flows