Stone mad for whiskey!

Have you ever had a delicious whiskey ruined by melting ice? Well, there’s an answer to this dilemma and it’s called ‘whiskey stones’.

Maeve Kelly, who runs the Irish Whiskey Stone Company, came across the idea of whiskey stones while travelling in the USA a few years ago and thought it was simply brilliant.

Whiskey stones are cubes of marble that are placed in a freezer and then used instead of ice. The stones can be reused again and again and, best of all, they don’t melt, meaning no dilution of your delicious whiskey. This preserves the original flavour notes in your drink while keeping it cool for even longer than a traditional ice cube or two would, making whiskey stones especially popular amongst connoisseurs of the drink.

Maeve started selling the stones in local markets in Galway and they were an instant success. However, markets had to close in March 2020 when the country went into lockdown and, with a lot of learning and a good dose of risk-taking, Maeve took her business online and has been delighted with the support from people all over Ireland and further afield.

She said: “I was happily trading in markets but that all came to an end when we were shut down. I had to learn how to go through the steep learning curve of designing my own website and marketing my company on the internet.

“The support of Irish people for small businesses is really incredible and it has genuinely moved me to tears on numerous occasions!”

Designs include boxes engraved with old-style Irish road signs, gin stone boxes and the bestseller, Father Jack's Whiskey Stones, engraved with his favourite expressions.

Maeve can also personalise the lids with people's names or places special to them.