Biggest moments in Irish whiskey history
The tale of Irish whiskey is fraught with highs and lows, making it one of the most interesting stories in the spirits industry.
We countdown 10 of the biggest moments on the history of one of the world’s most exciting spirits categories – Irish whiskeyAs with all beginnings, it took entrepreneurship, courage and passion to take off, with both Bushmills and Jameson established by men with a vision within just years of one another.
The spirit became well-loved by much of the world during the 18th and 19th centuries when there were over 160 distilleries in operation, but with any good story comes heartbreak, and the industry faced almost complete obliteration by the early 20th century.
Now, 100 years on, the spirit is enjoying a resurrection thanks to a number of key occurrences in recent years, and exports are set to grow to around 12 million cases by 2020.
What happened to spark this change of fortune, and what nearly killed off the industry altogether? We chart Irish whiskey’s key moments in history over the next few pages, both the highs and the lows.
1000 AD: Distillation technology
Monks bring perfumery production skills to Ireland in 1000 AD. The technique was modified to create whiskey. The Old Bushmills Distillery is registered in 1784, although landowner Sir Thomas Philips was given a license to distil back in 1608. Bushmill’s claims it is the oldest operational distillery in Ireland.
1770: John Jameson
In 1770 John Jameson moved to Dublin to establish an Irish whiskey distillery, and created his first triple-distilled whiskey in 1780.
1830: The column still
In 1830 Aeneas Coffey designed the column still. Up until that time all Irish whiskey was made in pot stills, but Coffey discovered a way to continuously distil grain to create a softer, lighter style of spirit that was easier to palate than Scotch.
1850s: Great French Wine Blight
Phylloxera, a sap-draining pest, breaks out in Europe and wipes out the vineyards of France. Brandy, which was the spirit of choice at the time, was hard to come by. As a result, people turned to Irish whiskey instead. By 1880, more than 160 distilleries were producing over 400 brands of whiskey, which was shipped out around the world.
1847: The Great Famine
The Great Irish Famine breaks out in Ireland in 1847, forcing thousands of families to emigrate overseas. Those working in the whiskey industry took their experience with them, helping to create a legacy of distilling and a widespread love of Irish whiskey, particularly in New York and Boston.
1919: Prohibition
However Irish whiskey’s popularity was short lived, and its biggest export market, the US, introduced Prohibition in 1919, making the sale and consumption of alcohol illegal.
1921: Trade war
Just two years later, trade sanctions are imposed on Ireland as it heads into an economic war with Britain, severing ties with its second-largest export market. As a result of the catastrophic decline in sales, many Irish whiskey distilleries closed. Even when Prohibition was repealed in 1923, there weren’t enough stocks to supply the now thirsty American public, and sales of Scotch whisky soared as Ireland’s Celtic cousins filled the now gaping hole in the market. Some 15 years later, in 1939, the Irish government forbid distilleries to trade with countries participating in the war, but that didn’t prevent US soldiers from taking their own stocks of whiskey back to America with them.
1966: Irish Distillers
Irish Distillers Group is established after John Jameson & Son, John Power & Son and the Cork Distilleries Co. combined in 1966. The new group built a new distillery at Midleton, and eventually closed the group’s other sites. By the early 1970s, Midleton and Bushmills, which had been bought by Irish distillers in 1972, were the only operational distilleries in Ireland. In just 90 years, Ireland’s whiskey industry had been decimated. But Irish distillers continued to promote Jameson as its flagship blend, supported by Powers, Bushmills and a handful of single pot still whiskeys. Its relentless faith in the brand encouraged Pernod Ricard to purchase the group in 1988. Just 12 years later, Jameson sold one million cases worldwide. Pernod Ricard eventually sold Bushmills to Diageo in 2005 for £200 million.
1987: John Teeling
It was Jameson’s success that encouraged John Teeling to establish the Cooley Distillery in 1987. The well-known Irish businessman, who studied in America and witnessed Jameson’s popularity first-hand, aimed to rescue some of the mothballed brands and distilleries left in the wake of the Irish War for Independence and Prohibition. He reopened Kilbeggan and set about producing Kilbeggan, Connemara, Tyrconnell and Greenore whiskeys, using both column and pot stills. However the family-run group struggled to establish an overseas distribution network, and eventually sold the business to US drinks giant Beam in late 2012. Beam quickly decided to cut the supply of whiskey to third party brands, rendering many obsolete with no other source to turn to. The sale sparked anger among Irish whiskey enthusiasts, who saw the sale as the end of independent whiskey distilling in the country.
2012: Brown spirits and ‘craft’
In fact, the sale of Cooley Distillery, coupled with a growing global interest in brown spirits and the burgeoning craft distilling movement that was creeping into the UK and Ireland from the States, breathed new life into the sector. Spotting the success of Jameson (which now stands at over four million annual case sales) and the huge gap in the market, entrepreneurs set about establishing their own distilleries. As it currently stands, in 2014, there are six Irish whiskey distilleries in operation. The number is expected to climb to as many as 15 by the end of 2015. With exports of Irish whiskey now predicted to reach over 12 million cases by 2020, those with a major interest in the category have established the Irish Whiskey Association to support the category’s growth, and return from bleakness to glory.
