Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash or by distilling beer. Various grains are used for different varieties, including barley, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden casks, generally made of charred white oak.
Irish whiskey is whiskey made on the island of Ireland. The word 'whiskey' comes from the Irish uisce beatha, meaning water of life. Irish whiskey was once the most popular spirit in the world, though a long period of decline from the late 19th century onwards greatly damaged the industry. So much so that although Ireland boasted at least 28 distilleries in the 1890s, by 1966 this number had fallen to just two, and by 1972 the remaining distilleries, Bushmills Distillery and Old Midleton Distillery, were owned by just one company, Irish Distillers.
Single malt whisky is malt whisky from a single distillery. Single malts are typically associated with single malt Scotch, though they are also produced in various other countries. Under the United Kingdom's Scotch Whisky Regulations, a "Single Malt Scotch Whisky" must be made exclusively from malted barley, must be distilled using pot stills at a single distillery, and must be aged for at least three years in oak casks of a capacity not exceeding 700 litres. While the Scotch model is usually copied internationally, these constraints may not apply to whisky marketed as "single malt" that is produced elsewhere. For example, there is no definition of the term "single" with relation to whisky in the law of the United States, and some American whiskey advertised as "single malt whisky" is produced from malted rye rather than malted barley.
A blended whiskey is the product of blending different types of whiskeys and sometimes also neutral grain spirits, colorings, and flavorings. It is generally the product of mixing one or more higher-quality straight or single malt whiskey with less expensive spirits and other ingredients. This typically allows for a lower priced finished product, although expensive "premium" varieties also exist.
The Old Bushmills Distillery is a distillery in Bushmills, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, that is owned by Casa Cuervo of Mexico. Bushmills Distillery uses water drawn from Saint Columb's Rill, which is a tributary of the River Bush. The distillery is a popular tourist attraction, with around 120,000 visitors per year.
A master blender is an individual who develops specific blended spirits using a combination of spirits with different characteristics. For example, in the Scotch whisky industry, master blenders choose which single malts and grain whiskies to combine to make particular brands of blended whiskey. A master blender is not the same thing as a master distiller, although one person may do both jobs at small craft distilleries. As the name suggests, the blender creates blends using spirits from different casks and is responsible for making sure the product remains consistent across different batches, while the distiller is either directly responsible for the mashing and distilling of spirits or simply holds the title as the administrative and marketing figurehead of the company.
Tullamore Dew, rendered in most branding as Tullamore D.E.W., is a brand of Irish whiskey produced by William Grant & Sons. It is the second largest selling brand of Irish whiskey globally, with sales of over 1,500,000 cases per annum as of 2020.
Jameson is a blended Irish whiskey produced by the Irish Distillers subsidiary of Pernod Ricard. Originally one of the six main Dublin Whiskeys, Jameson is distilled at the New Midleton Distillery in County Cork. It is by far the best-selling Irish whiskey in the world; in 2019, annual sales passed 8 million cases. It has been sold internationally since the early 19th century, and is available to buy in over 130 countries.
Paddy is a brand of blended Irish whiskey produced by Irish Distillers, at the Midleton distillery in County Cork, on behalf of Sazerac, a privately held American company. Irish distillers owned the brand until its sale to Sazerac in 2016. As of 2016, Paddy is the fourth largest selling Irish whiskey in the World.
Green Spot is a single pot still Irish whiskey, produced specifically for Mitchell & Son of Dublin by Irish Distillers at the Midleton Distillery in Cork, Ireland. Green Spot is one of the few remaining bonded Irish whiskeys. Along with Mitchell's two older offerings, Yellow Spot and Red Spot, it is one of only three whiskeys specifically produced for and sold by an independent wine merchant in Ireland.
Powers is a brand of Irish whiskey. Historically a single pot still whiskey, the flagship Powers Gold Label brand was the first Irish whiskey ever to be bottled. In recent years, several single pot still variants have been relaunched under the Powers label.
Redbreast is a brand of single pot still Irish Whiskey produced by Irish Distillers. It was originally produced by Gilbey's, a Dublin spirits merchant using distillate sourced from Jameson's Bow Street Distillery. In the 1980s, the brand was purchased by Irish Distillers, the producer of Jameson. It is the largest selling single pot still Irish whiskey in the world.
The Tyrconnell is a historic brand of whiskey that has been revived by the Cooley Distillery.
Beam Suntory, Inc. is an American company which is the subsidiary of Suntory Beverage & Food Ltd, which itself is a subsidiary of Suntory Holdings of Osaka, Japan. Its headquarters are in Chicago, Illinois. It is the third largest producer of distilled beverages worldwide behind Diageo and Pernod Ricard. They acquired 20 brands from Allied Domecq worth $5 billion in 2005, which has turned them into one of the largest producers of whiskey in the international market.
Halewood International is a global distiller and distributor of premium artisanal spirits.
Knappogue Castle Irish Whiskey is a brand of premium single malt Irish whiskey produced by Castle Brands Inc. It is one of the few independent bottlings of Irish whiskey currently available on the market. The brand is named for historic Knappogue Castle in County Clare, Ireland, originally built by Clan MacNamara in 1467. Knappogue Castle is known for bottling one of the oldest and rarest known Irish whiskies, Knappogue Castle 1951, a pot still whiskey produced at the now-defunct B. Daly Distillery.
Jameson Distillery Bow St. is an Irish whiskey tourist attraction located just off Smithfield Square in Dublin, Ireland. Jameson Distillery Bow St. is the original site where Jameson Irish Whiskey was distilled until 1971. It is now a visitors centre that provides guided tours, tutored whiskey tastings, JJs bar and a gift shop.
The Jameson Experience, Midleton, is an Irish whiskey museum and visitor centre located in the Old Midleton Distillery in Midleton, County Cork, Ireland. Set over 15 acres, since opening as a visitor's centre in 1992, the old distillery has received approximately 100,000 guests per year, receiving 125,000 in 2015.
Teeling Distillery is an Irish whiskey distillery established in Dublin in 2015 by the Teeling Whiskey Company. It is the first new whiskey distillery to have opened in Dublin, once a world whiskey distilling capital, in over 125 years. In fact, with the last of the original Dublin distilleries having closed in 1976, it is the first whiskey distillery to operate in Dublin, once home to at least 37 distilleries, in almost 40 years.
The Watercourse Distillery was an Irish whiskey distillery which was established in Cork City, Ireland in 1795. In 1867, the distillery was purchased by the Cork Distilleries Company (CDC), in an amalgamation of five Cork distilleries. Following the amalgamation, the distillery was mothballed for a period at the beginning of the 20th century. However, operations at the distillery were later resumed, with production of yeast, industrial alcohol and grain alcohol occurring at the distillery until the 1970s. Distillation ceased at the facility in 1975, when Irish Distillers, who at that stage owned the Watercourse along with several other distilleries in the Republic of Ireland consolidated its operations in a new, purpose-built distillery in Midleton.
