Information About Irish Whisky Is At The End Of This Page.

"Too much of anything is good for nothing. Too much good whiskey is barely enough". ...An old Irish toast

"Uisce Beatha" means "water of life" in Gaelic. Not an easy term to pronounce, it has been transformed to what we know know as "whiskey". Ask any Irishman and he'll tell you the Irish invented Whiskey. Legends of St. Patrick attest to the Christians bringing the art of distilling from grain first to Ireland. No one really knows for sure, so the debate will live on.

Irish whiskey was very prevalent throughout Ireland and the British Empire in the 1800's boasting over 2000 distilleries in Ireland. But, in 1916 when the Irish War of Independence came about, British embargo curtailed exportation. Scotch whisky, which was much cheaper because of a continuous distilling process, (the Irish scoffed at that method previously) also put a serious damper on the production. The American market was of no help with Prohibition in effect between 1920 and 1933.

By the 1960's only a handful of distilleries remained. Jameson, Power and Cork distilleries in Southern Ireland merged forming the Irish Distillers Group. They began distilling near the Cork plant. Bushmill's who claims to be "the oldest distillery in the world", joined this group the group in the 1970's dispelling the green and orange rivalry. In fact, the Irish Distillers Group is now a subsidiary of the French Pernod Ricard group.

In 1987, a newly formed company, Cooley Distillery bought an alcohol plant and installed two distilleries, a pure malt distillery and a column still grain distillery. One of Cooley's products, Kilbeggan is casked and matured at the old Locke's Distillery which, is open for tours. Though undercapitalized at first, Cooley's has done a tremendous favor to the rejuvenation of Irish Whiskey's popularity, as new brands come forth and the distillery continues to grow.

Traditionally, Irish Whiskey is best served straight or on the rocks,