All About Irish Whiskey

Queen Elizabeth 1st appreciated Irish whiskey. It is said that she had casks of Irish whiskey shipped to London and stored in the palace. By the 18 century Ireland had approximately 2000 stills in operation creating Irish whiskey. At present there exists only 4 distilleries in operations: Cooley, Kilbeggan, New Midleton and Old Bushmills. January 2012 Beam Inc., makers of Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark, acquired Cooley Distillery, the last independently Irish owned distillery.

Regulations for making Irish whiskey are dictated by the “Irish Whiskey Act, 1980.” This replaced the earlier act of 1950. When compared to the requirements to make Bourbon and Scotch, Irish whiskey is substantially easier. The Irish Whiskey Act of 1980 says that to be labeled Irish whiskey it must be created according to the following requirements:

1) spirits shall have been distilled in the State (Republic of Ireland) or in Northern Ireland from a mash of cereals which has been saccharified by the diastase of malt contained therein, fermented by the action of yeast and distilled at an alcoholic strength of less than 94.8% by volume giving the distillate an aroma and flavour derived from the materials used.
2) spirits shall have been matured in wooden casks in warehouse in the State or Northern Ireland for a period of not less than three years.
3) spirits comprising a blend of two or more distillates are referred to as a "blended" Irish whiskey and must meet requirements 1 and 2.

Styles of Irish Whiskey include blended, single grain and single malt. Blended whiskey makes up most of Irish whiskey being made today. Blended Irish whiskey can be comprised of whiskey from more than one distillate and also more than one distillery provided that it adheres to the regulations defined in the Irish Whiskey Act of 1980. Examples of Blended whiskies include: Bushmills Original, Jameson, Kilbeggan, Clontarf, Inishowen and Paddy to mention a few. To dive a little deeper into the process, Jameson is produced from a mash of malted and un-malted barley. It will then be triple distilled in pot stills and aged in oak casks. To form the final product a mix of triple distilled whiskey and neutral spirits are paired in just the right proportions to make Jameson what it has always been and will continue to be.

Single Malt whiskies can also be found but they are not as popular as blended whiskey. Single malts are made from a mixture of or 100% malted barley, distilled with a pot still and made by a single distillery. Some example of single malt Irish whiskies are: Tyrconnell, Bushmills 10, 16, 21 year old and Locke's Single Malt 8 year old. Tyrconnell uses 100% malted barley, yeast and water. Small batches are then triple distilled in copper pot stills.

While Irish whiskey normally does not contain grains malted with peat you can find a few that do contain this distinctive flavor. Cooley distillery produces an Irish whiskey named Connemara. The malted barley is dried in peat fired kilns that gives it the unique smokey flavor generally associated with Scotch whisky. Connemara is twice distilled in copper pot stills and then aged in American Oak for years. Connemara is considered to be a peated single malt.

To learn more about the different types of whiskey, mash recipes and how to make whiskey at home check out the many resources available on the web. A good place to start learning more about this fascinating hobby head over to How To Make Whiskey HQ.