The Heritage of Irish Whiskey

Irish whiskey — spelt with an e, in the tradition preserved on the island — has one of the oldest and most turbulent histories of any of the world's spirits. Its arc across nine centuries encompasses periods of dominance, near-extinction and remarkable revival.

The medieval monastic tradition of distillation is thought to have reached Ireland as early as the eleventh century, brought back by returning scholars from continental Europe. The earliest surviving Irish reference to aqua vitae appears in the Red Book of Ossory in the fourteenth century, and there is good reason to believe that distillation had already been practised in Irish monasteries for some time by then. The Gaelic uisce beatha — the water of life — gives its name to the entire family of whiskies now known throughout the world.

The first officially recorded distilling licence in the world was granted in 1608 to Sir Thomas Phillips at Bushmills in County Antrim. The distillery has claimed continuous production ever since and is generally recognised as the oldest licensed whiskey distillery in the world.

In the mid-Victorian era, the four Dublin distilleries produced more whiskey than the whole of Scotland.

The nineteenth century was the great age of Irish whiskey. In the mid-Victorian era the four Dublin distilleries — Jameson at Bow Street, Powers at John's Lane, George Roe at Thomas Street and William Jameson at Marrowbone Lane — together produced more whiskey than the whole of Scotland, and Irish whiskey commanded the leading position in the international market. Cork Distilleries, at what would become the Midleton site, played a similarly commanding role in the south.

The catastrophes of the twentieth century very nearly extinguished the industry. The Irish War of Independence and the subsequent Anglo-Irish Trade War severely restricted access to the British Empire; American Prohibition closed the largest export market for over a decade; and by the middle of the century the industry had shrunk to a handful of surviving names. By the nineteen-seventies the whole of the Republic of Ireland was served by a single working distillery, at Midleton, and Northern Ireland by Bushmills alone.

By the nineteen-seventies the Republic of Ireland was served by a single working distillery. The recovery since has been quiet, patient and remarkable.

The revival began quietly. Cooley Distillery in County Louth was founded in 1987, becoming the first independent Irish distillery in decades. Redbreast, the great Single Pot Still expression, was revived by Irish Distillers in 1991. By the two-thousand-and-tens the industry had entered a period of extraordinary growth, and today Ireland is home to several dozen working distilleries — the greatest number in more than a century.

The particular contribution of Ireland to whisky history is the Single Pot Still style, made from a mash of both malted and unmalted barley. The tradition emerged in the nineteenth century partly in response to British taxation on malted barley, and it produces a whiskey of a distinctive spicy, oily and full-bodied character. Redbreast, Green Spot, Yellow Spot and Powers John's Lane are its leading modern expressions.

It is worth noting, for the sake of a small editorial precision, that the spellings whisky and whiskey are used deliberately in this publication and elsewhere. Scotland and Japan follow the older spelling whisky; Ireland and the United States generally use whiskey. Both are correct within their traditions.