Irish Whiskey Chaser
Irish Whiskey
Irish Whiskey (In brief)....
A typical 19th Century distillery scene(Monasterevan Distillery Co Kildare 1784-1921)
Long has Irish Whiskey suffered from a certain perceived but possibly self imposed identity. However this identity in a sense cannot be denied and is one of the reasons that it survived at all. In the late 60's early 70's the Irish Whiskey Industry was on it's knees and drastic action was required to save it. This lead to the amalgamation of Jameson, Paddy & Powers and eventually Bushmills, the only surviving Irish Distilleries at the time, to create the monopoly that was Irish Distillers. Savings had to be made and the Blend became the main stay of Irish Whiskey. A concerted effort was made to promote Irish whiskey initially in Ireland then the rest of the world in a certain way. The mantra became triple distilled for smoothness as opposed to the harsher double distilled scotch. All very general and nice and neat for easy marketing. However in the past 2 decades Irish Whiskey has been transformed and it is now as diverse and colourful as the 4 provinces of Ireland and harks back to the way it once used to be.
Irish Whiskey now boasts a diversity of whiskey styles that possibly even Scotland cannot match. We have triple distilled pure pot still and pure pot still & grain blends, we have triple distilled malts and malt & grain blends and even a mixture of all of the above. All these fit with what people think of as traditional Irish Whiskey. However we also have double distilled malts and malt blends which are peated and unpeated and even a successfully marketed single grain whiskey.This is the new face of Irish whiskey which in tradition goes further back in time than the one that has been created in the 20th Century. Ireland was all things to whiskey back in the 18th & 19th centuries when it dominated the Whiskey industry like Scotland dominates today. Therefore it is only fair to give Irish whiskey a second closer look and the attention it deserves.
Pure Potstill Whiskey
Probably one of the most confusing sides of Irish Whiskey and the most questions I get asked about is the term Pure Pot Still or PPS. What is it and what does it mean? Why do the Irish use the term Pure Pot Still when single malt whiskey is distilled in a pot still too? Is there a difference between Irish and Scotch Pot Stills or what is it with Pure Pot Still that makes it different? I will try to explain in the simplest way I can.
Firstly the term Pure Pot Still (PPS) has probably been in existence longer than the term Single Malt when used to describe Whisk(e)y as a category. However people need to clarify in their own minds that Pure Pot Still basically is a descriptor for a style of whiskey and describes the end product rather than the apparatus that is used to create it.
What is unique about PPS is the way ingredients are combined to create the end spirit and not the actual way it is distilled. Simply put modern PPS is made when Malted and Unmalted barley are mixed together to create a single mash and in turn the wort from that mash (of Malted and Unmalted Barley) is then Distilled in a Copper Pot Still to create the Pure Pot Still clear spirit. This is matured in the normal way as any Irish or Scotch whisk(e)y would be matured in oak, usually bourbon or sherry barrels.
The confusion is created because unmalted barley is considered as a grain and any spirit created with it should technically be called a grain whiskey. As Malted barley would be used independently to make a single malt whiskey. However as it is used in a mix with malted barley the distillation process creates something so much more. This seems to go against the notion of the 2 different distillations. one of malt and one of grain whiskey where mixing them after the distillation and maturation process would result in a blend. However in the case of PPS method the end product, which is triple distilled, creates a smooth whiskey but contrary to many peoples beliefs that all Irish whiskey is light it actually produces a heavy oily flavoursome whiskey also known the world over as Pure Pot Still.
Pure Pot Still used to be considered the crowning glory of the Irish Whiskey industry but has declined over the years due to the expensive nature of production. The history of Irish Whiskey is vast, glorious and tragic which could take up this whole website. So what one needs to remember is that Irish was probably developed from a base of Single malt whiskey production but due tax abuses by various governments on use of malt came with it the Industry's need to adapt and cut costs and hence the birth of Pure Pot Still. And even though Malted and Unmalted barley has always been the major ingredients, in the past, PPS could also contain other elements such as smaller ratios of oats, corn and other grains that may have been available.
Irish Single Malt
Single Malt Whiskey: A whiskey solely made from Malted Barley which has been distilled, matured and bottled in a single Distillery.
There are a lot of Myths in relation to Single malt. i.e. it being associated with Scotch distilling rather than Irish distilling. This may simply be because Scotland has a very strong & rich history of Single Malt distillery's and production. However Ireland has had an association with Single Malt equally as long as Scotland if not longer. Further, what one needs to realise is that 2 of the current 3 main distilleries in Ireland produce Single malt as their primary business and these are Bushmills & Cooley. The 3rd, Midleton, also produces some limited batches of single malt when required for it's own purposes to be used in blending but in reality do not release Single Malt whiskey to the market and concentrate on Pure Potstill blends such as the Jameson range.
The most famous Single Malt distillery in Ireland has to be Bushmills and has had a long & illustrious history in single malt production and may surprise people that it is older than most of the famous Scottish single malt distilleries. Bushmills established in 1784 has been renowned the world over for nearly 2 centuries in regards to the whiskey it produces.
Then Cooley, Established in 1987, on the other hand is a relative new comer but has exploded on to the market with successful single malts such as Connemara (peated), Lockes (Very Lightly peated) & Tyrconnell (Unpaeted) Single Malts.
Both of these Distilleries show the diversity of Irish Single Malts. Bushmills being a tripple distilled malt which is totally unpeated and Cooley who only distill twice and produce both peated and unpeated single malts.
SIngle malt whiskeys have and always will be an important part of th Irish Whiskey industry and long may it live.
Bow Street 1780-1971
The original Jameson Distillery but now the Jameson visitor centre in Dublin.
Current Annual Output: 0
Past Output: Circa 4.5 Million Liters (1885)
Old Bushmills Distillery, Co Antrim 1784-Present
The famous Old Bushmills Distillery, Co
Current Annual Output: Circa 4.5 million litres (malt 2009)
Owner: Diageo.
Cooley Distillery, Co Louth 1987-Present
Established in 1987 by Entrepreneur John Teeling. Which at the time broke the monopoly of Irish whiskey production in
Current Annual Output: Circa 2.25million litres (malt) & 2.25 million litres (grain) 2008.
Owner: Cooley 100% Irish Independent Limited Company
Dingle Distillery (Drioglann an Daingean) 2009/2010
News that a new Irish boutique distillery could be imminent is exciting news but it is only in the planning stage so we need to keep the fingers crossed on this one.
Location is earmarked for the affable port town of Dingle in County Kerry but the distillery name is yet to be confirmed.
Current Annual Output: 0
Owner: Porter House Brewing Co Dublin
Locke's Distillery, Kilbeggan 1757-Present
The oldest distillery in
Current Annual Output: 0.
Past Output: Circa 700,000 Liters (1885)
Owner: Cooley
Midleton Distillery 1975-Present
Established in 1975 when IDG amalgamates CDC, Jameson & Powers shut up their perspective shops and moved their combined production literally lock, stock & barrel to a single operation at the new Midleton Distillery. The distillery boasts a combination of 13 75,000 interconnected stills creating by and far the most technically complex and modern distillery of its day. A title they may well still hold to this day. This modern marvel of whiskey distilling is now turning over 2.6 million cases of Jameson alone.
Current Annual Output: 15 MLA (Grain) 19 MLA ((combined) Unconfirmed)
Owner: Pernod-Ricard
Old Midleton Distillery, Co Cork 1825-1975
Established in 1825, closed 1975, but restored to house the Jameson Heritage Centre. Home to the world’s biggest pot still with a capacity of circa 143875 litres (31,648 gallons), this used to be the strong hold of Cork Distillers Company Ltd (CDC). In the mid sixties however CDC, John Jameson & John Power distilleries amalgamated to form Irish Distillers Group (IDG). The Old Midleton distillery closed it doors in July 1975 only to be reincarnate in a Midleton Distillery.
Current Annual Output: N/A
Past Output: Circa 4.5 Million Liters (1885)
Owner: Pernod-Ricard
Upcoming Events
Featured Products
-
3ml Pippettes (x5)
€2.50
