Irish whiskey is distinctive from its Scottish cousin and has been made in Ireland for hundreds of years. There are several types of whiskey common to Ireland: Single Malt, Single Grain, Pure Pot Still and Blended Whiskey. The word whiskey is an Anglicisation of the ancient Gaelic term “uisce beatha” which translates as “water of life”. It isn’t just the spelling that gives Irish Whiskey its distinction – it has a very different flavour and the brewing process does differ.

Although it is similar to Scotch whisky in that it was distilled primarily from barley, traditional Irish whiskey is distilled from a mash of mixed malted and unmalted grains (referred to as “pure pot-still” whiskey) whereas Scotch is either distilled exclusively from malted grain or from unmalted grain. That brewed from unmalted grain is generally then mixed with malt whisky to create blended whisky. Most Irish whiskey is blended from a mixture of pot still whiskey and cheaper grain whiskey.

The most common myth is that most Irish whiskey is distilled three times, unlike Scotch Whisky and that this is the main distinction between the two varieties. Irish whiskey also differs in that peat is almost never used in the malting process, so the smoky, earthy overtones common to Scotches are not present. There are notable exceptions to these rules in both countries; Connemara Peated Irish Malt (double distilled) whiskey from the independent Cooley Distillery in Co. Louth is one of those exceptions.

Whereas there are nearly one hundred Scotch Whisky distilleries all over Scotland and the Scottish Isles, there are actually only a handful of Irish distilleries producing a range of Irish Whiskey. Irish Whiskey comes in several varieties including single malt whiskey, which is made from 100% malted barley distilled in a pot still, and grain whiskey made from grains distilled in a column still. Grain whiskey is much lighter (both in colour and flavour) than single malt and is rarely bottled as a single grain. It is more commonly used to blend with single malt to produce a lighter blended whiskey.

‘Pure pot still’ whiskey is unique to Irish whiskey. While single malt from both Scotland and Ireland is distilled only in a pot still, the designation ‘pure pot still’ refers to Irish Whiskey that is made from 100% barley (mixed malted and unmalted) and distilled in a pot still. The ‘green’ unmalted barley gives the traditional pure pot still whiskey a spicy, uniquely Irish flavour. Similar to single malt, pure pot still is sold as a specific classification of whiskey. It can also be blended with grain whiskey. Usually no real distinction is made between whether a blended whiskey was made from single malt or pure pot still. Only Redbreast, Green Spot and some premium Jameson brands are regarded as pure pot still whiskies.

The more common Irish Whiskeys such as Jamesons, Paddys, Bushmills Original and Millars Special Reserve are readily available from most good spirit retailers, but some of the rarer varieties can be difficult to locate outside their native Ireland. However the Internet has given Irish Whiskey lovers access to some of the more exotic blends and pure pot still whiskeys, including limited editions such as Kilbeggan 15 Year Old, which was launched to mark the restart of distilling at the Kilbeggan distillery and was recently voted Best Blended Irish Whiskey at the World Whisky Awards.

Irish Whiskey makes a wonderful gift for a special occasion or as an exclusive business gift and continues to grow in popularity amongst whisky drinkers all over the world.

The Scots most likely learned about distilling from the Irish (though they are loath to admit it). The Irish in turn learned about it, according to the Irish at least, from missionary monks who arrived in Ireland in the seventh century. The actual details are a bit sketchy for the next 700 years or so, but it does seem reasonable to believe that monks in the various monasteries were distilling aqua vitae (“water of life”), primarily for making medical compounds. These first distillates were probably grape or fruit brandy rather than grain spirit. Barley-based whiskey (the word derives from uisce beatha the Gaelic interpretation of aqua vitae) first appears in the historical record in the mid-1500s when the Tudor kings began to consolidate English control in Ireland. Queen Elizabeth I was said to be fond of it and had casks shipped to London on a regular basis.

The imposition of an excise tax in 1661 had the same effect as it did in Scotland, with the immediate commencement of the production of poteen (the Irish version of moonshine). This did not, however, slow down the growth of the distilling industry, and by the end of the 18th century there were over 2,000 stills in operation around the country.

Under British rule Ireland was export oriented and, along with grains and assorted foodstuffs, Irish distillers produced large quantities of pot-distilled whiskey for export into the expanding British Empire. Irish whiskey outsold Scotch whisky in most markets because it was lighter in body. It is said that in the late 19th century over 400 brands of Irish whiskey were being exported and sold in the United States.

This happy state of affairs for Irish distillers lasted into the early 20th century when the market began to change. The Irish distillers, pot still users to a man, were slow to respond to the rise of blended Scotch whisky with its column-distilled, smooth grain whisky component. When National Prohibition in the United States closed off Irish whiskys largest export market, many of the smaller distilleries closed. The remaining distilleries then failed to adequately anticipate the coming of Repeal (unlike the Scotch distillers) and were caught short without adequate stocks when it came. The Great Depression, trade embargoes between the newly independent Irish Republic and the United Kingdom, and World War II caused further havoc among the distillers.

In 1966 the three remaining distilling companies in the Republic of Ireland—Powers, Jameson, and Cork Distilleries—merged into a single company, Irish Distillers Company (IDC). In 1972, Bushmills, the last distillery in Northern Ireland, joined IDC. In 1975 IDC opened a new mammoth distillery at Midleton, near Cork, and all of the other distilleries in the Republic were closed down with the production of their brands being transferred to Midleton. For a 14-year period the Midleton plant and Bushmills in Northern Ireland were the only distilleries in the country.

This sad state of affairs ended in 1989 when a potato-peel ethanol plant in Dundalk was converted into a whiskey distillery. The new Cooley Distillery began to produce malt and grain whiskeys, with the first three-year-old bottlings being released in 1992.
Irish whiskeys, both blended and malt, are usually triple distilled through both column and pot stills, although there are a few exclusively pot-distilled brands. Irish Pure Pot Still Whiskey is generally labeled as such. Otherwise, Irish whiskeys are a mix of pot and column-distilled whiskeys. Irish Malt Whiskey is likewise so designated. Standard Irish Whiskey is a blend of malt and grain whiskies.

Source: Tastings.com