7 Things You Didn't Know About Irish Whiskey
Alessandra Bulow
We’ve had a lot of Scotch whisky in our day but to get the real deal on Irish whiskey, we turned to Gerry Graham, Master of Whiskey for Bushmills Irish Whiskey. Honestly, he could have made something up and we would have just nodded along, while listening to his brogue—we wish you could have heard it.
Here Graham names seven things you didn’t know about Irish whiskey (editors’ note: we suggest reading them aloud with an Irish accent for the full effect):
1. It’s triple-distilled. ”Scotch whisky is only double distilled and American whiskey is continuously distilled.”
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2. It’s never smoky. ”In Ireland we don’t peat our whiskey so it’s not smoky and peaty like Scotch whisky. It has more of a smooth, sweet note. Also, Irish and Scotch whiskey are both made with barley. Bourbon and Canadian and Tennessee whiskey are largely corn based which is a lot sweeter.”
3. Try it if you think you don’t like whiskey. ”It’s a great introductory whiskey that’s perfect for someone who is new to the category because it’s got that third distillation, which makes it a lighter and mellower style of spirit. Once you’re introduced to Irish whiskey as a category, then you can take it a step further and try versions with different finishes that have different expressions.”
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4. The oldest license to distill any spirit in the world is for Irish whiskey. ”Irish whiskey has been around and documented longer than any other whiskey, so you’re drinking a lot of history, heritage and experience. Bushmills got its original license to distill in 1608.”
5. Irish Monks made the first whiskey. ”The original word for alcohol is Arabic (alko). Irish monks learned the process that was used to make perfume in Arabic-speaking countries and brought it back to Ireland, creating what they called uisce beatha in Gaellic, which means “water of life” and transcends a lot of spirits. Uisce beatha was shortened to uisce (pronounced ishkie), and then it became Anglicized as whiskey. Then the Irish monks brought it to Scotland and to the New World which is why there are Tennessee and Canadian whiskeys.”
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6. Irish whiskey was once the number one spirit in the U.S. ”The World Wars and Prohibition caused a lot of Irish distilleries to close. Scotch whisky took advantage of that and ran with it. You can trace the change back to the creation of the Coffey still by an Irish tax collector named Aeneas Coffey. He patented a new version of a still to create continuous distillation for grain whiskey and tried to sell it around Ireland, but people laughed at him, so he moved to Scotland with his idea. Scotch whiskey ran with it and it brought them to where they are today.”
7. Irish whiskey is the fastest growing spirit category. ”Two or three years ago, there were only three distilleries in Ireland and now the projection is 12 to 14 distilleries in the next two years, so there’s a massive resurgence and pride in Irish whiskey. It’s definitely en vogue and I think that’s because the consumer is a little more educated from the craft cocktail movement.”
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