Whiskey fans: Visit a Belfast prison now turned into a distillery
"A hungry feeling came o'er me stealing, and the mice were squealing in my prison cell." Prisons feature heavily in old Irish ballads, as does whiskey.
And yet only now are the two being blended in one space, where a whiskey distillery has opened in a once notorious Belfast prison.
In what is the latest landmark on the island of Ireland for whiskey fans, tourists in the Northern Irish capital can now visit the McConnell's distillery in Crumlin Road Gaol, known locally as "The Crum" on guided tours.
Of course there are whiskey tastings. After all, visiting a prison with a history like this is thirsty work.
Parallel to the distillery, you can feel the oppressive history of the prison in part of the complex where visitors can walk around on their own or as part of a guided tour.
This includes a visit to the "condemned man's cell", where 17 death sentences were carried out. Various footage, inluding holograms and interviews with former prisoners, document the history of the prison.
Crumlin Road Gaol was in operation as a prison for more than 150 years from 1845 onwards. Many of its inmates were involved in both sides of Northern Ireland's Troubles, up until the prison was decommissioned in 1996 and is now a venue for cultural events.
The new distillery was built in the A-wing of the former prison - at a cost of ￡22 million, or around $27.5 million.
The malt silo, weighing several tonnes, was carried in through the roof, and several cells had to be removed for this. However, bars on the windows of the cells were retained, as were many of the original cell doors.
A tour of the distillery in north-west Belfast costs ￡25 and tickets can be booked online at belfastdistillery.visihost.co.uk. Information on guided tours of parts of the former prison can be found on its website: crumlinroadgaol.com/tours-events.
Northern Ireland is home to several whiskey-related landmarks, as is the Republic of Ireland. Among them is also the Killowen Distillery in the Mourne-Gullion-Strangford Global Geopark.
Just 10 square metres in size, and operating with two handmade artisan pot stills and an upcycled shipping container, the distillery is the smallest on the island of Ireland, according to co-founder and director Brendan Carty.
The Bushmills whiskey in county Antrim north of the border, as well as the Jameson distillery south of the border in Dublin are two other distilleries popular among tourists.
