Irish whiskey ( or uisce beatha) is whiskey made on the island of Ireland. The word 'whiskey' (or whisky) comes from the Irish , meaning water of life. Irish whiskey was once the most popular spirit in the world, though a long period of decline from the late 19th century onwards greatly damaged the industry, so much so that although Ireland boasted at least 28 distilleries in the 1890s, by 1966 this number had fallen to just two, and by 1972 the remaining distilleries, Bushmills Distillery and Old Midleton Distillery (replaced by New Midleton Distillery), were owned by just one company, Irish Distillers.

The monopoly situation was ended by an academically conceived launch of the first new distillery in decades, Cooley Distillery, in 1987. Since 1990, Irish whiskey has seen a resurgence in popularity and has been the fastest-growing spirit in the world every year since. With exports growing by over 15% per annum, existing distilleries have been expanded and a number of new distilleries constructed. Ireland has 32 distilleries in operation, with more either planned or under development.

History

thumb|[[Erskine Nicol A Nip Against the Cold An Irishman pouring whiskey 1869. Part of Erskine Nicol Irish collection, painting of Irish life.]]

Irish whiskey was one of the earliest distilled drinks in Europe, arising around the 12th century. It is believed that Irish monks brought the technique of distilling perfumes back to Ireland from their travels to southern Europe around 1,000 AD. The Irish then modified this technique to obtain a drinkable spirit. However, it is known that by 1556 whiskey was widespread, as an act passed by the Parliament of Ireland (3 & 4 Phil. & Mar. c. 7 (I)) declared whiskey to be "a drink nothing profitable to be drunken daily and used, is now universally throughout this realm made". This act also made it technically illegal for anyone other than "the peers, gentlemen and freemen of larger towns" to distil spirits without a licence from the Lord Deputy.

Start of licensed distillation

In 1608, King James I granted a licence to Sir Thomas Phillips, a landowner in County Antrim. Today Kilbeggan Distillery in Kilbeggan, County Westmeath, lays claim to the title of oldest distillery in Ireland, as the first distillery in Kilbeggan was established in 1757 (although not continuously operating since e.g., the Kilbeggan Distillery was entirely shut down around 1917 and again between 1954 and 2007 and was "in rubble" and "totally derelict" by 1983). Despite this the licence was continuously paid and whiskey is currently distilled in Kilbeggan using the original 1757 licence. Kilbeggan also has what is believed to be the oldest operational copper pot still in the world, first used in 2007 after being "last used in the 19th century". However it is through the earlier 1608 licence that the Old Bushmills Distillery lays claim to being the oldest surviving grant of licence to distil in the world. However, the current Bushmills distillery and company was not registered to trade until 1784 and despite the promotion of the Phillips licence as its claimed founding date, the Bushmills distillery does not clearly descend from any distillery operated by Phillips through ownership or location.

In 1661, the Crown introduced a tax on whiskey production in Britain and Ireland. Growth in the latter is very much visible in the share of Irish duties paid on legal spirits in the late 1700s. In 1770, whiskey only accounted for 25% of the total duty on spirits received by the exchequer, while duty on imported rum accounted for 51%, with the remainder divided equally between brandy and gin. By 1790, however, whiskey's share accounted for 66%.

Due to the stringency of this act, which made assumptions about output (for instance, a 500-gallon pot still was assumed to produce 33,075 gallons a month) and the minimum numbers of days which a still was in operation per annum (112), while Aeneas Coffey (an excise officer at the time, and later inventor of the Coffey still) estimated that there were over 800 illicit stills in operation in Inishowen, County Donegal alone.

Reform and expansion

thumb|The [[Old Midleton Distillery, built in 1825, hosts a mammoth 31,618 gallon Pot still, so big that the still room needed to be built around it. Although no longer in use, it remains in place inside the old distillery building.

Domestic demand was reduced somewhat in the mid-1800s, due to the Temperance movement of the 1830s, and the Great Famine of the 1840s (during which a million Irish died and a million Irish emigrated). Between 1823 and 1900, however, whiskey output in Ireland still increased fourfold, At their peak, the distilleries in Dublin would grow to become the largest in the world, with a combined output of almost 10 million gallons per annum, the largest of which, Roe's Thomas Street Distillery, had an output exceeding 2 million gallons per annum. In fact, even by the late 1880s, only two of Ireland's then 28 existing distilleries were producing single malt whiskey, the rest steadfast in their devotion to "pure pot still". In 1904, almost seventy years after the Coffey still had been patented, the Senior Manager of Ireland's largest rural distillery, Allman's of Bandon, placed an outright ban on the introduction of Coffey stills at his distillery, in the face of opposition from a director. In 1909, the royal commission settled the argument, declaring that whiskey could refer to the output of either Coffey or pot stills. whereas Coffey stills are permissible in the production of armagnac.

An industry in decline

In addition to the introduction of blended whiskeys and the Irish distillers' failure to account for its appeal to changing tastes, there were a number of additional issues which placed further pressure on the Irish distillers: the Irish War of Independence, the subsequent civil war, and trade war with Britain (which cut off whiskey exports to Britain and all Commonwealth countries, then Irish whiskey's biggest market); prohibition in the United States (1920–1933), which severely curtailed exports to Irish whiskey's second-biggest market (Irish whiskey had accounted for more than 60% of whiskey sales in the US in the 1800s); widespread counterfeiting of Irish whiskeys in America and Britain; protectionist policies introduced by the Irish Free State government, which significantly capped whiskey exports in the hope of taxing domestic consumption; and finally, over-expansion and mismanagement at several Irish distilleries. Together, these factors greatly hampered exports and forced many distilleries into economic difficulties and out of business, and by the early 20th century Scotland had surpassed Ireland to become the world's largest whiskey producer.

When British historian Alfred Barnard published his account of the distilleries of Britain and Ireland in 1887, there were 28 distilleries in operation in Ireland. By the 1960s, there were only a handful of these remaining in operation, and in 1966 three of these (John Jameson, Powers, and Cork Distilleries Company) chose to amalgamate their operations under the name of Irish Distillers and to close their existing facilities and concentrate their operations in a new purpose-built facility to be constructed beside the Old Midleton Distillery in County Cork. In 1972, these were joined by the only other remaining Irish operation, Bushmills, so that by the mid-1970s there were only two whiskey distilleries in operation in Ireland, the New Midleton Distillery and the Old Bushmills Distillery, both owned by Irish Distillers, and with only one of these having operated during Irish whiskey's golden years.

Production reached a nadir at about 400,000–500,000 cases per annum during the consolidation period, down from a peak of 12 million cases around 1900. In addition, it is estimated that the industry provides support to a further 4,200 jobs across agriculture and other sectors of the economy. Peat is rarely used in the malting process outside of Scotland. There are notable exceptions to these rules in both countries. Examples include Connemara peated Irish malt whiskey from the Cooley Distillery in Cooley, County Louth; Pearse Whiskey from Pearse Lyons Distillery in Dublin; and Dunville's peated from Echlinville Distillery. Though not a legal requirement, Irish whiskies are commonly triple distilled. This third distillation heightens lighter, aromatic flavours while removing stringent elements for a smoother spirit.

Regulations and labelling

Irish whiskey is a protected European Geographical Indication (GI) under Regulation (EC) No 110/2008. As of 29 January 2016, production, labelling and marketing of Irish whiskey must be verified by the Irish revenue authorities as conforming with the Department of Agriculture's 2014 technical file for Irish whiskey.

Key requirements include specifications that Irish whiskey must:

  • Be distilled and matured on the island of Ireland (comprising the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland) from a mash of malted cereals with or without whole grains of other cereals and which has been:
  • saccharified by the diastase of malt contained therein, with or without other natural enzymes;
  • fermented by the action of yeast;
  • distilled at an alcoholic strength of less than 94.8% alcohol by volume in such a way that the distillate has an aroma and taste derived from the materials used and only plain water and caramel colour is added to it;
  • subject to the maturation of the final distillate for at least three years in wooden casks, such as oak, not exceeding capacity
  • Retain the colour, aroma and taste derived from the production process referred to above
  • Have a minimum alcoholic by volume content of 40%

Individual technical specifications for the three varieties of Irish whiskey, "single pot still", "single malt", "single grain", plus "blended" whiskey (a mix of two or more of these varieties) are also outlined in the technical file. However, many of these were recently established and had not yet aged their own spirits for sale as whiskey:

  • Achill Island Distillery, County Mayo (est. 2015) – produces the Irish American brand whiskey.
  • Ballykeefe Distillery, County Kilkenny (est. 2017) – released its own whiskey in March 2021. Also produces vodka, gin and poitín.
  • Baoilleach Distillery, County Donegal (est. 2019) – produces gin and poitín, will start production of whiskey in early 2022.
  • Blacks of Kinsale, County Cork (est. 2015) – produces whiskey, gin and rum.
  • Blackwater Distillery, County Waterford (est. 2014) – produces a range of whiskey and gins.
  • Boann Distillery, County Meath (est. 2019)
  • Boatyard Distillery, County Fermanagh (est. 2016) – currently produces gin and vodka, whiskey is maturing.
  • Burren Whiskey Distillery, County Clare (est. 2019)
  • Clonakilty Distillery, County Cork (est. 2016) – opened to the public in March 2019.
  • Connacht Whiskey Company, County Mayo (est. 2014) – released its first whiskey in June 2021. Also produces gin, vodka and poitín; and markets a single malt sourced from other distilleries.
  • Cooley Distillery, County Louth (est. 1987) – when opened it was the only independent distillery in Ireland. Along with its sister distillery in Kilbeggan, it produces the Connemara, Tyrconnell, Kilbeggan and 2Gingers whiskeys. It has been owned by Suntory Global Spirits since 2011.
  • Copeland Distillery, County Down (est. 2019) – currently produces gin, rum and whiskey.
  • Crolly Distillery, County Donegal (est. 2020) – produces single malt whiskey, production began in November 2020.
  • Dingle Distillery, County Kerry (est. 2012) – distills gin, vodka and whiskey. The first batches of whiskey were released in late 2016. A single pot still whiskey was released in 2017.
  • Dublin Liberties Distillery, Dublin (est. 2018) – opened to the public in February 2019.
  • Echlinville Distillery, County Down (est. 2013) – the first Northern Irish distillery to be granted a distilling licence in almost 125 years. The distillery relaunched the Dunville's brand, previously produced at the Royal Irish Distillery in Belfast. The distillery also produces gin and poitín.
  • Glendalough Distillery, County Wicklow (est. 2013) – it currently ages and finishes whiskeys from other distilleries, and also markets gin and poitín. It is in the process of building a new distillery.
  • Glendree Distillery, County Clare (est. 2019) – currently produces vodka, whiskey is maturing.
  • Great Northern Distillery, County Louth (est. 2015) – John Teeling, founder of the Cooley distillery developed two distilleries on the site of the Great Northern Brewery in Dundalk. The distilleries began operations in 2015, have a capacity of 50 million bottles per annum.
  • Hinch Distillery, County Down (est. 2020) – production began in November 2020.
  • Kilbeggan Distillery, County Westmeath (est. 1757, re-commissioned 2007) – the distillery re-opened in 2007, 54 years to the day after it closed, and 250 years after it was first established. A sister distillery of the Cooley Distillery, both were bought by Beam Inc, in 2011.
  • Killowen Distillery, County Down (est. 2019) – the distillery will produce double-distilled peated whiskey, single pot still whiskey, and gin.
  • Lough Gill Distillery, County Sligo (est. 2019)
  • Lough Mask Distillery, County Mayo (est. 2019)
  • McConnell's Distillery and Visitor Experience, Crumlin Road Gaol, Belfast - a brand dating from 1776 and now 'reborn'
  • Micil Distillery, Galway (est. 2016) – produces poitín and gin
  • New Midleton Distillery, County Cork (est. 1975) – produces Jameson, Powers, Paddy, Midleton, Redbreast, and others, including the independently sold Green Spot. Owned by Pernod Ricard since 1988
  • Old Bushmills Distillery, County Antrim (est. 1784) – through a 1608 licence to distil, lays claim to be the oldest licensed distillery in the world. Produces a range of blends (Bushmills Original, Black Bush) and single malts (Bushmills 10, 16 and 21 year olds). Previously owned by Pernod Ricard, and Diageo, since 2014 it has been owned by Proximo Spirits.
  • Pearse Lyons Distillery, Dublin (est. 2017) – opened in a converted church on Dublin's Thomas Street in September 2017. Alltech previously operated Alltech Craft Distillery in Carlow from 2012 to 2016.
  • Powerscourt Distillery, County Wicklow (est. 2018) – located on the grounds of Powerscourt Estate, the distillery will market whiskey previously distilled by its Head Distiller, Noel McSweeney, at the Cooley Distillery, until its own stock is mature enough for release.
  • Rademon Estate Distillery, County Down (est. 2015) – the distillery plans to release malt whiskey, its first mature stocks became available in August 2018. The distillery also produces gin.
  • Roe & Co Distillery, Dublin (est. 2019) – located in refurbished building which formerly housed the power station of the Guinness Brewery, the distillery sits alongside the site of George Roe's original Thomas Street Distillery.
  • Royal Oak Distillery, County Carlow (est. 2016) – previously called Walsh Whiskey Distillery. An Irish-Italian venture, since January 2019 100% owned by Illva Saronno the makers of Tia Maria. The distillery is expected to have a capacity of 500,000 cases per year.
  • Shed Distillery, County Leitrim (est. 2014) – production began in December 2014, and the whiskey has been on sale since 2019. The distillery also produces a gin "Gunpowder Gin".
  • Slane Distillery, County Meath (est. 2018) – developed and owned by Brown-Forman Corporation, in partnership with Henry and Alex Conyngham, the new distillery was built at the historic Slane Castle estate in the original stable buildings dating back to the early 1700s. Distilling began in early 2018. Slane Irish Whiskey is a blended whiskey aged in a unique triple cask maturation process.
  • Sliabh Liag Distillery, County Donegal (est. 2016) – produces whiskey, gin and vodka.
  • Tipperary Distillery, County Tipperary (est. 2020) – production of their own distillate began in November 2020 after having bottled sourced spirit since 2016.
  • Teeling Distillery, Dublin (est. 2015) – the first new distillery built in Dublin city for over 125 years, it was founded by the Teeling family, who previously established the Cooley Distillery. When the Cooley Distillery was sold in 2011, the Teelings negotiated the purchase of mature stock, which is being used in their whiskeys until mature stock from the new distillery becomes available.
  • Tullamore Distillery, County Offaly (est. 2014) – opened in September 2014, returning production of Tullamore D.E.W. to Tullamore after a break of sixty years. The distillery has a capacity of 1.5 million cases per year, and is owned by William Grant & Sons.
  • West Cork Distillers, County Cork (est. 2003) – produces single malt, whiskey, whiskey liqueur, vodka, gin and poitín.

Planned or under construction

Further distilleries are either planned or in development across Ireland. In addition, to the Glendalough distillery mentioned above, which had previously distilled spirit, planned distilleries include:

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|Old Carrick Mill

|County Monaghan

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|Scotts Irish Whiskey

|County Fermanagh

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|Skellig Six18

|County Kerry

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|Stewart's Mill Distillery

|County Roscommon

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|Wayward Irish Spirits

|County Kerry

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In addition, work began on a further distillery, the Quiet Man Craft Distillery, in Derry in 2017. However, the project was subsequently cancelled in late November 2018.

Historical distilleries

thumb|Kilbeggan Distillery, pictured here c. 1905, was just one of many Irish distilleries which closed in the 20th century.

Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, around 1,000 registered distilleries opened and closed across Ireland with multiples of this number operating illegally.