Lockes 8 year old single malt was first released in 2000 and is double distilled in traditional pot stills, 10% of the malt is peated. Using whiskeys aged between 8-10 years it is medium bodied with plenty of fruit and spicy oak. For my money this is one of the best value Irish Single Malt. This won Gold Medal and Best in Class in the 2009 International Wine and Spirits Awards.Cooley Distillery, located in County Louth was established in 1987 by John Teeling, an entrepreneur with a vision to revive the Irish whiskey industry. At the time, the Irish whiskey market was dominated by a few large distilleries, and Cooley aimed to challenge that dominance. In many ways it was ahead of its time and it took over 20 years for the revival that the distillery started to truly take hold. The distillery is an old industrial alcohol plant that once made spirit from potatoes. The pot stills were sourced from the long-closed Comber Distillery and the column stills are the same ones once used for the industrial alcohol. In 2007 Cooley also revived distilling at Kilbeggan Distillery with a small ancient pot still, which was eventually partnered by a newer still of similar size and shape. In 2011, Cooley Distillery was acquired by Beam Inc. (now Beam Suntory). This acquisition provided Cooley with more resources and broader distribution channels, enabling its whiskies to reach a wider audience. John Teeling went on to found the Great Northern Distillery whilst his sons founded the Teeling Distillery in Dublin.