This week we provide an extract from the book to be published in November 2023 on Irish Mist Liqueur, a unique Tullamore-based product for almost forty years. Many homes have the Irish Mist Soldier in pride of place on a dresser so here is some more information about it from John Flanagan, the production manager with Irish Mist for twenty-five years. The book will be published in the autumn. You can email us to reserve a copy for you. No money now thanks. The book has support from Creative Ireland and Offaly County Council.
The Irish Mist ceramic figurine was made by Coronetti, Cunardo, Italy. Each one was individually hand-painted by different artists in the factory. The figurine is a replica of an Irish soldier (officer) in the Austrian army about 1756. The Austrian connection is associated with the founder of the recipe for Irish Mist Liqueur who was Austrian. Irish Mist was known as the Legendary Liqueur.
The launch on the market of an Irish Soldier in such a colourful and splendid uniform filled with Irish Mist liqueur was a master stroke and everyone wanted to get one. The soldier was first introduced in the mid-1960s and was exported to many countries around the world particularly the USA. We often spent two or three weeks at a time just bottling figurines to meet the demand for the thousands that were on order. We can remember soldiers in a straight line (like an army) marching down the conveyor belt to be packed and wrapped and placed in large boxes of six ready for export. The figurines were made /moulded in ceramic and had to be “Handle with Care” at all times.
There were five sizes of the figurine produced. The tallest one was for display purposes only. There was only a very small number about 20 altogether produced of that size. If you happen to have one hold on to it, as they are precious.
The second largest was the one that had a tap at the base. The concept of filling your glass from it was a great idea. We started a production run to fill them to find that the rubber seal holding the tap came loose and began to leak from the vibration on the conveyor belt. We had to cease filling them. A big disappointment no doubt. There was only a small number involved as this was only a trial run. They were used for display purposes after.
The third largest in size contained 700ml each which is the same quantity as the standard bottle. This was the winner as we sold thousands all over the world. We experienced many difficulties with the standards as the Quality Control of the Italians was not very good. There were many problems with the colouring and painting, some had buttons missing, some had only one eye, some had one sidelock or even no sidelocks, poor print etc. etc. are just a few examples. The figurine contained nine different colours. The bore was not uniform in the head for filling and as a result we had to have a selection of different corks to get the best fit to try and prevent leaks. Poor glazing on the inside of the figurine and hairline cracks were more of the problems that were the cause of leaks.
We had to reject a very high percentage in the early stages and be compensated for the poor quality of the ones that we could not use. This was the case for some time. After a long battle we eventually got an improvement in the standards. Communications with the Italians were not easy at that time either, unlike it is today. We visually examined every figurine as the consignment arrived in order to maintain our standard and below standards were rejected. The 700ml size proved to be by far the most popular. For those of us that experienced the problems at the time, we can take some small comfort of still seeing them in houses, hotels and bars around the country almost sixty years later.
There was a real suit of the figurine and it was worn on a number of special occasions like the Horse Show and many other events.
The fourth size was the 500ml size, or the half litre. They were filled and were exported everywhere, only a limited edition was launched.
The fifth was the 50ml size. The miniature was filled and exported, again with only a limited number put on sale.
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