 The ambition of the Murphys (and the effect of the 1823 excise reforms) is underlined by the fact that just two years earlier, the largest pot still in Ireland had a capacity of just 750 gallons.In 1827, Murphy's distillery is reported to have produced over 188,000 proof gallons of spirit, and by the 1830s, distillery output had risen further, to 400,000 proof gallons per annum, with the distillery having a payroll of nearly 200.In the mid-1800s, the Irish whiskey industry underwent a period of turmoil, with temperance movement of the 1830s, and the Great Famine of the 1840s reducing domestic demand for whiskey.