SIPPING THE IRISH WHISKEYS

Ireland is truly special.
The warming Gulf Stream comes up from the tropics to kiss its Atlantic shore, bringing with it abundant rainfall that rarely turns to snow. On the other side of the island lies the wild Irish Sea, where 10 to 15 miles of water separate Ireland from England and Scotland.
Traveling along either coast, the visitor is dazzled by the rich green of the foliage framing a nearly tropical blue sea, thus earning Ireland the nickname the “Emerald Isle.” Despite its situation on the northern part of the globe, Ireland is a fertile land with a temperate climate that supports abundant crops of grains, primarily barley, and low-lying mountains with clear mountain streams that provide more than enough unpolluted water for a unique whiskey.

Tracking the origins of Irish whiskey

Kilbeggan Distillery- Westmeath, Ireland c. 1905

You probably know that St. Patrick chased the snakes out of Ireland, but did you also know that he brought the “worm” in instead? At least that’s the truth according to tales told over the bar in Irish pubs. After the human race discovered distillation, many missionaries, commercial as well as religious, took the process with them as they traveled, introducing to the world the worm, the coils atop a still that condense alcohol vapors into neutral spirits, which is the first product of distillation.
St. Patrick, the gentle but determined fourth-century son of a Roman soldier and a British mother, was kidnapped as a child, sold as a slave in Ireland, and sent by his masters to study in a French monastery, where he was ordained and sent back to Ireland. In all likelihood, he took with him the product of monasterial distillation.
Patrick and his fellows, sent to “civilize” the Gaels, called their distilled spirits aqua vitae, Latin for water of life. In Gaelic, the Latin aqua vitae became uisege beatha (pronounced oosga bee-atha). Say that fast, with an Irish brogue, and it comes out close to ushkey — or at least, that’s what it sounded like to British troops sent every now and then to conquer Ireland. Well, to coin a phrase, how ya gonna keep ‘em down on the farm once they’ve tasted uisege beatha? Naturally, the soldiers went home to tell friends and family about the wonderful — all together now! — ushkey, soon to be whiskey.

Sailing the Irish seas

The quickest way to stir up a fuss in an Irish pub is to suggest that the Scots were the first to make whiskey. In fact, the Scots and the Irish tied for first place in the distillation race. Sort of. Yes, the Scottish farmers may have started distilling earlier, but the Irish were the first to make the whiskey a commercial success. Surrounded by the seas, the Irish were great sailors who had even designed a wood-frame hide or skin-covered waterborne vessel called a curragh. Julius Caesar first described the oval-shaped boats when he became one of the multitudinous invaders of Ireland and marveled at the craft’s stability in choppy waters.
The curraghs, still in use long after the Romans left, made it easy for the Irish to cross the heaving Irish Sea to Scotland and deliver their whiskey to the populace. They were probably on one of those excursions to “civilize” the natives and increase Irish farmers’ incomes.
As a matter of course, many of the seamen sailing from Ireland to Scotland saw the place as a land of new opportunity and settled right in, bringing with them their distilling techniques. In fact, so many made the trip east that modern genealogists may have a hard time locating a Scottish still master whose family tree isn’t rooted in the old sod of Ireland.

Beginning well: The early days of the Irish whiskey trade

What with the curraghs slipping back and forth through rain and sleet to deliver the goods to thirsty Europeans who used the whiskey not simply as a beverage but also as a purifier and flavoring agent for the local drinking water, everything was going swimmingly for the Irish. That is, until 1608, 50 years after Henry VIII formed a Protestant state government in Ireland. That year, the British Crown issued the first license to an Irish distillery, Bushmills at Antrim in Northern Ireland.
Although the Irish had been making whiskey there for several hundred years, the new license served notice to the world — and the British treasury — that Irish whiskey was now a full fledged, legal member of world commerce. Then, in 1661, the British sat up and took notice of all the buying and selling back and forth, forthwith imposing a tax on all whiskey, a move translated by the Irish into: “The King is taxing Irish whiskey to benefit the Brits.”
The new whiskey tax dramatically slowed the legal whiskey trade, encouraging the production of illegal poitin (pronounced po-cheen), or “little pot still,” in honor of the type of stills used to make it. Still, Irish whiskey sailed off to Europe, carried by bootleggers and smugglers sailing under the British tax radar.
The higher prices didn’t halt the British demand for good Irish whiskey, and the Irish beverage took a sudden leap forward in favor. Then, in the mid-18th century, a tiny insect called Daktulosphaira vitifoliae (common name: phylloxera) infested and decimated nearly all the wine grape vines in France. This decimation forced the thirsty French elite, who until then had looked on whiskey as a drink for the lower classes, to join the audience for Irish distillates. Which left only the New World for the Irish to conquer.

Go west, young distiller

Crop failures are an unpleasant but familiar feature of farm life. For example, a widespread barley crop failure originally led Irish farmers to plant potatoes, a seemingly weatherproof and disease-resistant food brought back to Europe from the Americas. So adaptable was this multipurpose tuber that Irish farmers were soon labeled with the not-entirely-complimentary name of “potato eaters.”
Potatoes, too, had been known to fall victim to a plant disease; over the years, limited crop failures had caused limited losses. But, the Great Hunger of 1845–1848 was a disaster of another magnitude entirely, a nationwide crop failure during which nearly 25 percent of the Irish people died from famine and more than 500,000 left for North America.
Those who stayed uprooted the potatoes and planted in their place grains to be used in distilling. The first whiskey they produced was less than perfect, but it was inexpensive and it sold well enough that soon an estimated 2,000 stills were in operation, making Irish whiskey again very available. Across the Atlantic, as the Irish settled in the New World, they brought with them their distilling techniques and their special whiskey. Soon, the beverage was popular enough to convince American tavern owners to lay in a continuing stock, and once again, Irish whiskey began to gain favor with a new audience. And then the Americans changed the rules.

Losing — and again finding — the luck of the Irish

As the 20th century began and Irish whiskey continued to make its popular way in the world, American voters decided to amend their Constitution to establish Prohibition, making it illegal to make, sell, or drink alcohol beverages (except for medical reasons, of course), thereby introducing millions of American and Canadian drinkers to smuggled whiskey — much of it Irish.
As if that weren’t enough of a challenge, almost as soon as Prohibition was repealed via a second amendment to the Constitution, a very new American distilled spirit, blended whiskey, began to compete for the loyalty of drinkers who preferred the light flavor of the Irish variety. As if that weren’t trouble enough for Irish whiskey, during World War II, most American GIs stationed in Britain had their first taste of Scotch whisky and French wines, liked what they tasted, and brought their newly sophisticated palates home with them. Sales of the milder Irish (and American) whiskeys dropped to the point where it soon became difficult to find Irish whiskey on the shelves of many liquor stores.
Some Irish distillers tossed in the towel, cashed in their holdings, closed their distilleries, and retired to the South of France (just kidding on that last one). But the more faithful pulled up their distilling socks, so to speak, held on, and rode out the revolution much as they had the raids of Vikings and Goths. Thanks to them, today’s Irish whiskeys are back in force, with sales in the United States alone expected to cross the million case mark by 2010. It’s been a hard road, but you can bet St. Patrick would be proud of his progeny.

The Uniqueness of Irish Whiskey

Virtually all Irish whiskeys are triple distilled (sent through a still three times), most often on pot stills (alembics), and aged a minimum of three years. Even those products that make no age claim on the label are likely to have aged in the barrel for between five and eight years. Irish whiskeys may be:

1.Single malts (a single distillate from one distillery)
2. Vatted (a blend of distillates and/or neutral spirits from one distillery or several distilleries)
3.Vintage (a blend of whiskeys from a single year’s production at one distillery)
4.Limited bottling (single distillate or a blend from special aging casks that impart special flavor and aroma notes)

Regardless of the type, the distinctive character of Irish whiskey is
determined chiefly by

1. The grain (mostly barley)
2. The water (mostly hard)
3. The fire (coal or wood)

The following sections give you details on how grain, water, and fire come together to create the Irish whiskey you know and love.

Beginning with barley

Ireland’s primary native grain crops are oats, wheat, and barley. The latter is a versatile product that can be used as food for human beings and animals, and as a base for fermented alcohol products, such as beer, and distilled spirits, such as whiskey. As a general rule, distillers require 22 pounds of grain to produce a 600-liter cask of mash (the grain-plus-water base from which alcohol is ultimately distilled), which may be expected to yield 21 to 23 liters of grain whiskey.
But the amount of alcohol produced during distillation rises with the proportion of starch in the grain. A high-starch grain yields more alcohol than a low-starch grain. Early on, Irish distillers used oats in their distilling, giving their spirits a recognizable “oaty” taste. Then some smart cookie in the distillery realized that barley has proportionately more starch than oats, while some food chemist discovered that barley also has lots of diastase, an enzyme that hastens yeast’s conversion of the grain’s starches to sugar, a vital step in controlled fermentation and distillation.
The smart cookie, having put one and one together, probably went straightaway to tell the smart cookie’s boss to switch to the more efficient barley, making it the predominant grain for making Irish whiskey (and saving the company a bundle in the process).

Following the flow

The second component in the distinctive flavor of Irish whiskey is the water used in making the mash and turning the plain alcohol into a liquid that’s no more than 100 proof (50 percent alcohol by volume). In other words, drinkable whiskey. Most of the stream and spring water used in the distillation of Irish whiskey is naturally filtered through limestone in the Irish soil. As a result, the water is hard — that is, packed with minerals that lend a special flavor to the finished product.

Firing the spirit

Before the grains for whiskey can be made into mash, they must germinate (in other words, sprout). Heat speeds germination; in Ireland, the source of the heat is usually a wood or coal fire. Occasionally, the Irish may light their fire with peat, a compacted moss most commonly used in Scotland. (The Scots traditionally malt their whisky by spreading the barley on a floor, beneath which burns a hot peat fire. The smoke and flavoring agents from the peat fire are thrown into the grain. The Irish don’t particularly go for that peaty taste and so burn theirs in bricks cut from the native peat beds, all fired up in an enclosed oven.)

The material burned in heating the grains can impart a flavor of its own; master distillers often have their own preferences in creating a special whiskey and use the malting process to help them out.

Fire also plays a role in developing the flavor of the whiskey in the barrel because Irish whiskeys, some of which are aged in barrels that once held Bourbon or sherry, are usually aged in charred barrels.

The Leading Irish Whiskeys

Up until World War II, Ireland had dozens of distilleries, each producing its own style of whiskey. However, as drinking preferences changed and the demand for Irish whiskey fell, many of these facilities closed. The majority of the remaining ones merged to form the Irish Distillers Company, a conglomerate that held sway over the entire Irish whiskey industry up to and for some time after the war. Within the past 20 years, a series of corporate sales and mergers ultimately brought almost all the Irish distilleries together under the corporate umbrella of the Pernod Ricard, a French company that is now the world’s leading producer of Irish whiskey — and several other types of alcohol beverages.

The remaining distillers of Irish whiskey are:
1. Midleton
2. Bushmills
3. Cooley

Each has its own take on how a superior Irish whiskey should look and taste. Read on to quench your curiosity.

Midleton

Midleton is located in, well, Midleton, a town about 15 miles from the southeast Irish coastal city of Cork. One of the world’s largest and most complex distilleries, the company has enormous continuous and pot stills capable of turning out 5.3 million gallons of whiskey every single day for Midleton’s own brands and those of other distillers.
Midleton is also home to the world’s largest pot still, constructed in 1825, a short time after the original Midleton Distillery was built. The “Big Still,” no longer in use, could accommodate more than 40 gallons of mash at a time, a big deal in its day. The still was shut down after construction of the new Midleton plant in 1975. Midleton’s leading export brands are Jameson, Powers, and Redbreast.

Jameson

Jameson (80 proof/40 percent ABV — alcohol by volume) was originally made at the Jameson Distillery in Dublin (founded in 1780). Its popularity increased until it became the world’s leading Irish whiskey. At that time, Jameson production was moved to Midleton, and its original Dublin plant was converted to a must-see visitor’s center.
The pale gold whiskey is a blend of about 50 percent pot still spirits plus malted spirits from continuous stills, aged in sherry casks. Its light, sweet taste not only makes it easy to drink neat but also makes it a superb base for the cocktails Americans love. You can find Jameson and Jameson 12 Year Old around the world. Jameson Gold 18 Year Old may be harder to find.

Midleton

The Midleton offerings (80 proof/40 percent ABV) are most often special bottlings, such as Midleton Very Rare 1994, and several very costly single cask-aged whiskeys, each with a slightly different and smoother flavor. These are top of the line whiskeys, and the variety of flavor hints provided by the different barrels make them exciting to track down.

Powers

Powers (80 proof/40 percent ABV) is another famous Dublin whiskey, first made in 1791, whose original recipe has been faithfully preserved at Midleton. Powers Gold Label carries no age statement, but like other Irish whiskeys, it’s aged for a minimum of three years. Powers 12 Year Old Millennium, with a higher percentage of malt spirits, is more deeply flavored. The regular Powers is really designed as a mixing whiskey and is most often the Irish whiskey used in taverns for that purpose.

Redbreast

Redbreast (80 proof/40 percent ABV), an old-style pot still whiskey in the Jameson line, is brighter in color than the traditional Jameson. It has a deep body and a flavor that lingers on the palate, leading some tasting experts to insist that “one can always identify Redbreast, even in a blind comparison tasting.” The whiskey, originally available primarily in Ireland, is now being distilled at Middleton so that more is available for export.

Bushmills

Bushmills, the world’s oldest licensed distillery (1608), is located in Antrim, Northern Ireland, near the famed Giant’s Causeway — a spread of natural granite pillars in the sea that some consider the ruins of a natural bridge to Scotland, less than 25 miles away. Legend has it that the Irish giant Fingal (“Finn McCool”) walked across the bridge to carry distillation from Ireland to Scotland. Frankly, as Julius Caesar noted, the carraghs seem a better bet. A fire destroyed the original Bushmills building in 1885; the “new” distillery uses only pot stills to turn out several well-known blended light whiskeys.

Bushmills Original

Bushmills Original (80 proof/40 percent ABV) has a distinct malty flavor and an aroma reminiscent of toast or baking bread. This blend of grain neutral spirits and whiskeys is distilled and aged for up to seven years on the Bushmills grounds in eight “cellars” large enough to hold a total of 175,000 quietly aging barrels.

Black Bush

Despite its name, Black Bush (80 proof/40 percent ABV) is a brilliant deep gold. The whiskey has an intense malt flavor and is a favorite with those who prefer a stronger flavor than Bushmills Original. Black Bush costs more; however, its fans say the price reflects the quality and the heritage which in itself is worth the money.

Bushmills Single Malts

This unusual group of whiskeys — the Bushmills Single Malts (80 proof/40 percent ABV) — includes 1608 Special Reserve 10 Year Old, Bushmills 12 Year Old, and Bushmills 16 Year Old Madeira Cask Aged. Each has the characteristic Bushmills toasty flavor and aroma, but the 16 Year Old is notable for its age-related smoothness and the subtle flavor tones imparted by the casks that once held Madeira wine (and if you’ve ever tasted an aged Madeira you won’t ever forget it).

Cooley

Cooley, near the Cooley Mountains that span the northern side of the border between Eire (The Irish Republic) and Northern Ireland (Great Britain), is a rarity among Irish distillers. The company isn’t centuries old. In fact, it’s not even one century old, having been established in 1987 by an investment group that decided to reactivate Cooley’s existing plant. The plant had been distilling ethanol to export in bulk to whiskey makers in other countries or to ship off to people making gasohol, the lowered emission auto fuel.
Despite powerful competition from the Irish Distillers Group, the Cooley guys were cool enough to think they could fill a niche by producing special Irish whiskeys made solely on pot stills and distilled only two times rather than three times, like other Irish whiskeys. Originally, Cooley resurrected Irish whiskey names no longer available and marketed them mostly in Great Britain, often as private labels (or as the British call them, “store owned”), but as the distillery’s reputation grew, the company began to produce its own branded products for the global market. Today, a few Cooley whiskeys are available in the United States, but some are in limited supplies, so be prepared to hunt them down.

Connemara

Connemara (112 proof/59.6 percent ABV) is the only non-blended, peated malt whiskey made in Ireland. Needless to say, it makes a potent mouthful but also a very robust, tasty one. The best way to try this is with water and slow sipping. Connemara is also available in the more common 80 proof (40 percent ABV) version. Connemara has created a buzz because the peat fired under the still in Scotch-whisky-style lends it a flavor different from that of the usual, lighter Irish whiskeys. Yes, this chapter is about Irish whiskeys. Yes, peat firing is usually reserved for Scotch whiskies. So here’s a thought: How about comparing the flavor of Connemara (if you can find it) with your favorite Scotch whisky and a more traditional Irish whiskey, such as Bushmills?

Tyroconnel

The single malt Irish whiskey Tyroconnel (80 proof/40 percent ABV) is aged in charred and recharred Bourbon barrels, which gives it an interesting flavor that’s unlike the flavor of other Irish whiskeys. It’s sweeter but not smoother, and it could make nice a change for Bourbon fanciers. By the by, the whiskey is named for a 19th century racehorse who won the Irish Classic and paid 100 to 1. The event is memorialized on the Tyroconnel bottle label.


Planning a Blended Meal

Irish whiskey is light, so most devotees prefer to take it straight, over ice, or with a splash of still or sparkling water as an aperitif (if you’re talking like an expert, you may as well speak French), which is a before-dinner drink intended to stimulate the appetite. Sweet, light blended Irish whiskey is also perfect in most cocktails,such as a classic Manhattan (sweet vermouth, bitters, a maraschino cherry, a twist of orange, and some whiskey — in this case, the Irish).
During dinner, Irish whiskey mixed with water, club soda, or bitter lemon in a tall highball glass complements the sometimes salty traditional Irish dishes, such as grilled salmon, corned beef and cabbage, or a traditional Irish (read: lamb) stew. Skip the Irish whiskey if you’re serving spicy food, such as some Asian dishes. The strong flavors of the food may leave the mild whiskey flavorless. Well, nothing’s perfect. After dinner, try an Irish cordial or an Irish coffee, the perfect end to an Irish whiskey dining experience.

To “E” or not to “E”: How come?

No etymologist (that’s a word-derivation expert) knows exactly why the Irish spelled the wine of their country with an “e” and why their neighbors across the Irish Sea left the “e” out. It’s often used as an indication that the Irish had the spirits first and because it sounded like a broad “e” in Gaelic, they started spelling whiskey with an “e.” Under this theory, when the Scots started making aqua vitae, they wanted to point out the difference between theirs and the Irish. Hence, no “e.” That’s as good an explanation as any.

How the Irish say good job, congrats, bye-bye, and fare-thee-well

Common wisdom has it that the first to lift a glass to salute a fellow drinker were the Danes, who are said to have hoisted a brew-filled bull’s horn to bid farewell to a traveler or a lost comrade. Several centuries later, the Brits made the ritual a bit more complex by dipping a piece of toasted bread into the drink to lend a maltier flavor. Does it suggest a certain lack of originality to note that they called the ritual “toasting”? No matter: Soon everybody and his brother used the term to describe a liquid salute. Naturally, the poetic Irish turned the everyday toast (“Here’s to ya”) into memorable poetry. Consider the toasts that follow:

1. Here’s to the maiden of bashful fifteen, Here’s to the widow of fifty. Here’s to the flaunting extravagant queen, And here’s to the housewife that’s thrifty. I’ll warrant she’ll prove an excuse for the glass.

2. May the road rise to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm on your face, And rains fall softly on your fields. And until we meet again May God hold you in the hollow of His hand. (And never close His fist too tight.)
You can add that last line from a similar toast.

3. May your coffin have six handles of the finest silver. May your coffin be carried by six young maidens. And may your coffin be made of the finest wood From 100-year-old trees That I’m going to plant tomorrow.

4. I used to know a clever toast.But now I cannot think it. So fill your glass to anything And damn your souls, I’ll drink it.

After toasts like these, the only thing left to say is Slan (pronounced slawn), which is the good Gaelic word for farewell.



By Perry Luntz in the book "Whiskey & Spirits for Dummies", Wiley Publishing Inc.,U.S.A, 2008, excerpts from p.61-78. Adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.