Irish Whiskey

Irish Whiskey is made in Ireland. The Irish spell the spirit "whiskey" while the Scottish drop the "e". Irish Whiskey is typically a triple-distilled spirit (in contrast Scotch is distilled only twice) using unpeated malt, aged in wooden casks for minimum 3 years. The absence of peat (or the light peating), as well as the triple distillation common to the production of Irish whiskey, account for a smoother texture, and a more juicy, spicy fruity profile to the final spirit. 

Nowadays a diverse range of whiskey styles and types is available: Blended whiskey; Grain; Single Malt that may be triple-distilled or double-distilled and it may peated at various degrees, such as the example of Connemara Peated Malt whiskey. 

Pure Pot Still whiskey is a term unique to Ireland and denotes an Irish Whiskey made from a combination of malted and -predominantly-unmalted barley and distilled in a pot still. Modern Irish law allows any whiskey distilled in a pot still to be labelled as "pot still whiskey" regardless the proportion of unmalted barley the grain mix. e.g. some whiskeys from Cooley Disitllery that do not use unmalted grain. However the majority of "pot still whiskeys" are crafted according to the traditional method. 

The history of the first Irish distilleries date backs as far as the mid 12th century. The Old Bushmills Distillery claims the title of the oldest licensed distillery in the world, having received a licence in 1608 from James I. The once robust local whiskey industry had much suffered from the adverse economic conditions of the last couple of centuries that resulted to numerous mergers and closures (such as the example of the now silent Kilbeggan Distillery -aka Brusna or Locke's Distillery). 

Irish Whisky Producers
Only 3 Irish whiskey distilling companies operate nowadays, Midleton , Bushmills and Cooley (the sole Irish-owned company). Each of these three distilleries produces an array of brands and styles.

More information about Whisky
Find out about other whisky styles in the dedicated pages for Single Malt Scotch Whisky (Lowlands, Highlands, Speyside, Islay, Campbeltown, Orkney, Skye, Mull, Jura, Arran ) Grain Whisky , Blended Whisky , Vatted Malt Whisky (aka Blended Malt) and World Whiskies  that includes Japanese Whisky and American Whiskey and Bourbon.