Byrne’s right
The Byrne family has been selling whisky for generations. Richard Jones looks at the Lancashire-based business
Whisky isnât just a passion for the Byrne family of D Byrne & Co, Clitheroe, Lancashire, itâs in their genes.
Andrew Byrne is the fourth generation in a family firm thatâs been around for the best part of 126 years and, when I visited him recently, he proudly showed me a clipping from a 1999 edition of Whisky Magazine. In it, his son Joe Byrne, then just 13 years of age, came second only to his dad in a nosing (note: nosing not drinking!) competition held at the Islay Festival.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Joe Byrne has recently decided to abandon his sixth form studies to join his father in the family trade.
âAlthough weâre best known for our wine, whisky has always been extremely important to us,â Andrew Byrne begins.
âOur original business was grocery, delivering to all the farms in the Ribble Valley on horse and cart, but we began to specialise in wine and spirits around 25 years ago.
âWe developed a reputation for stocking every wine and spirit that you could get, however weird and wonderful â today we have a range of over 300 different whiskies covering just about everything there is.â Although Clitheroe isnât the easiest place to get to, a visit to the Byrnesâ shop on the main high street is always a memorable experience. This is the wine and spirit merchants that time forgot â think Ronnie Barker in Open All Hours with stripped wooden floors, a huge oak counter and shelves to the ceiling, alongside an original arched cellar full of nooks, cra.....
To read the rest of this article you can buy this issue
or subscribe to Whisky Magazine to have every issue delivered direct to your door.
You can unlock and read this entire article with 1 of your community tokens by clicking here.
By Richard Jones
Section : Whisky Spotlight
Page number : 52
