Talk:Irish whiskey

Irish vs. Scotch

Maturation, Peat

I heard somewhere that Irish whiskey must be matured in oak barrels for five years (as opposed to three for Scotch). Is that true? -3mta3 04:25, 27 September 2005 (UTC)

No. Scotch whisky must be aged in oak barrels for at least three years according to the Scotch Whisky Act of 1988. Irish whiskey, in accordance with the Irish Whiskey Act of 1980, must be aged for at least three years in wooden casks, but not necessarily oaken casks. The two main differences between the two are that 1) Irish whiskies are usually distilled three times while Scotch whiskies are distilled twice, and 2) during the malting phase the barley used in Scotch is dried over peat fires which imparts a "smokey" quality to the barley. This is not done in the making of Irish whiskey where the barley is instead dried in closed ovens. This is the most significant reason in the distinct difference in taste between the two. Sláinte Cafe Irlandais 01:15, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

The Acts mentioned above are way out of date. The last ruling was made in June 2019. This para needs to be reworked in toto.Moitraanak (talk) 11:49, 22 September 2021 (UTC)

Considering the post is from 15 years ago, they were correct and valid at the time. oknazevad (talk) 22:00, 27 September 2021 (UTC)

All the more reason for an update. 18 years is a long time in history. That para needs to be reworked in toto.Moitraanak (talk) 11:22, 15 March 2024 (UTC)

Connemaras barley is dried over peat. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.192.244.131 (talk) 12:24, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

In fact the majority of Irish whiskey would of had a smokey flavour due to the fact that Ireland has so much peat. When canals and coal arrived some big distilleries changed to coal as it was cheaper. This stuff about irish being 3 distilled and no peated is pure marketing puff.

I drink alot of whiskey and as an Irish man I can say how great some scotches are and how great some whiskeys are. A real whiskey lover enjoys the product not the marketing speil that goes with it —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.192.244.131 (talk) 12:27, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

Multiple Distillation

I deleted the following statement because it isn't true: "Irish whiskey has been traditionally distilled three times by Irish Distillers, lending it a smoother flavor when compared to Scotch, which is distilled twice, and Bourbon, which is distilled only once. Cooley Distillery, Irelands Independent Distillery, double distils their Irish whiskey."

Triple distillation is not unique to Irish whiskey nor universal. As mentioned, Cooley double-distills while there are some scotches and at least one bourbon (Woodford Reserve) that are triple-distilled. The result of triple distillation is not necessary a "smoother flavor," which is, at best, a very vague term anyway. The statement about bourbon is flat-out wrong. All bourbon, except the afore-mentioned Woodford Reserve, is distilled twice.Cowdery 17:30, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

I am a bit confused by this concept of a number of times that a whiskey is distilled. I can understand how you could count the number of times that a product has been processed by a pot still, but most of the spirits in most whiskey are from a continuous still. A continuous still, manufactured specifically to do so, can presumably produce approximately any desired level of alcoholic purity. The concept of a number of distillations seems rather strange in that context. Does it make sense? —BarrelProof (talk) 17:22, 24 March 2011 (UTC)

The statement supra that "most of the spirits in most whiskey are from a continuous still" is grossly incorrect. It needs to be deleted.Moitraanak (talk) 11:49, 22 September 2021 (UTC)

lIts not incorrect at all. Most of the whiskey in the world in blended whiskey that includes column still made base whiskey, and column stills are also the majority of bourbon and rye production by a long shot. In terms of actual volume of liquid, column distilled whiskey is the more common than pot still. oknazevad (talk) 22:00, 27 September 2021 (UTC)

I'm sorry, I disagree. Re volume of grain whisky, it is only the western countries that use column stills for commercial ethanol and grain whisky. India uses molasses and produces much more alcohol for human consumption. Moitraanak (talk) 11:18, 15 March 2024 (UTC)

Scotch

Calling scotch "medicinal"-tasting is contentious to say the least. Understandable, but only coming from someone who's never learned to appreciate it.

Jameson

Origins

I spoke to someone who said that he doesn't drink Jameson because "it isn't very Catholic friendly." Is this true? Wtntiro 22:09, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

No. In fact it's said to be the other way around. Jameson is distilled in County Cork and their main rival, Bushmills, is distilled in County Antrim. The word on the streets is that your local publican will pour you a shot of Jameson if you're Catholic and Bushmills if you're a Protestant. My advice; tell the barkeep you're an atheist and need a shot of each... Cheers! Cafe Irlandais 01:26, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

There should be a link to the Jameson article somewhere on this page! 75.18.193.96 06:30, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

There is. It's listed in the Examples section under blends. I can see your point though, the links should be clearer. I'll work on that a bit, once I finish sampling this Red Breast... Cheers! Cafe Irlandais 11:47, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

Jameson is from Dublin, not Cork. 85.134.156.136 20:19, 12 September 2006

Well... Jameson was established in Dublin on Bow Street in 1780. It was distilled there from 1780 until 1975 when it joined with the three other distillers of whiskey in the Republic of Ireland to form the Irish Distillers. From 1975 to the present Jameson Irish Whiskey has been distilled in Midleton, County Cork. Whether or not this has affected its quality I can not say as I was not of age at the time. However, this has not stopped me from tilting Jameson when the mood strikes, which, as fortune would have it, is often! Sláinte! Cafe Irlandais 03:32, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

Bushmills is strong in the north of Ireland and Jameson is strong everywhere. No real distiction is made between catholic and protestent when one drinks a whiskey. Both religions like to drink. Jameson was in fact founded by a british protestent so Jameson was never seen as catolic whiskey. The most working class whiskey was seen a paddys. Powers and Jameson both coming from aristocratic familys.

As regards taste I would go for a Connemara sweet and smokey or black bush smooth and not too complicated. Jameson just doesnt have alot of flavour. It does have good marketing though and in these times thats all you need. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.192.244.131 (talk) 12:18, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

"Jamison Irish Whiskey" - such a brand?

Is there such a thing as "Jamison Irish Whisky" (letter I not E in the name)? I'd swear that was the name on the bottle of what I was drinking at a party this week. Now I can't find it. JamEson bottles, the only brand I could find in the liquor store, look different. Or was I drunk already? --CliffC (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 21:01, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

Spelling

Fixing the spelling and pronunciation of "Uisce Beatha" --Mackerski 23:02, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

How about IPA for the pronunciation instead of random approximations? There isn't nearly enough IPA used on the English-language Wikipedia. I'll get onto it asap :-) --Dub8lad1 20:26, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Irish whiskey in popular culture

I seem to remember in the satirical television series Hall's Pictorial Weekly, one of the Ballymagash councillors was named Paddy Jameson-Power (being the names of three well-known whiskeys). The inspiration was reputed to have been Paddy Power, a prominent national politician at the time. Can anybody verify all that? Rwxrwxrwx 13:30, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

• I also recall Conan O'Brien doing an SNL sketch about "Irish-American Christmas Carols" and one they sang was called "Screw the British, They Never Had a Whiskey Named After Them" or something similar. It was pretty funny. Childe Roland of Gilead 09:07, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

False statements in article (edit war?): How to deal with this?

The article is repeatedly being edited and re-edited in what, effectively, amounts to an "edit cold war". The most recent edit by 76.22.5.217 contains sourced fallacies, including the statement that Irish is always made only of barley and is always distilled 3 times, both incorrect statements despite any sources. Also that "much" or "most" Scotch is distilled 3 times, also incorrect. All of these topics have been discussed before; see "Irish vs. Scotch" below, as well as the talk page in the article Whisky.

In addition, the edit includes information that is already found elsewhere in the article and would thus fit better elsewhere in the article's structure.

I am going to re-edit (again) and copy the text in question into this talk page until the problem can be solved. Jtnet (talk) 10:36, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

This is the text in question as of this moment:

Although it is similar to Scotch whisky in many ways - principally in that it is distilled only from barley, traditional Irish whiskey was distilled from a mash of mixed malted and unmalted grains (referred to as "Irish Pot-stilled" whiskey) whereas Scotch is either distilled exclusively from malted grain (hence "single malt") or from unmalted grain (this latter spirit, coarser and fierier, is invariably blended with single malt spirit before being bottled for sale). Today, almost all Irish whiskey is blended from a mixture of pot still whiskey and cheaper grain whiskey. Only Red Breast, Green Spot (which is distilled and vatted in the Midleton distillery but sold only through Mitchell and Son vintners in Dublin) and some premium Jameson brands are pure pot still whiskies.

All Irish whiskey is distilled three times, but so is much most Scotch; thus it's a myth, although a common one, that this is main distinction between the two varieties. Irish whiskey also differs in that peat is almost never used in the malting process, so the smoky, earthy overtones common to Scotches (particularly Islay Scotches) are not present. There are notable exceptions to these "rules" in both countries; an example is "Connemara" Peated Irish Malt whiskey from the independent Cooley distillery in Co. Louth.

Jtnet (talk) 10:41, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

I agree with Jtnet. It's 13 years since her observation. If the errors are not rectified by Dec 01 this year, I shall correct the deficiencies highlighted. Moitraanak (talk) 11:18, 22 September 2021 (UTC)

Craythur

The Craythur is mentioned as a synonym for whiskey, the dubious etymology (from "creature") is given, and a reference is noted with a footnote. The source referenced does NOT give the stated etymology. The derivation from "creature" is NOT supported by the reference. More reliable sources indicate a probable derivation from a word for a cup or bowl (the word being akin to "crater"). Since the folk-etymology is clearly not supported by the referenced source, I delete. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 4.154.252.125 (talk) 13:12, 6 June 2009 (UTC)

A reference in a wiki to a single use in a book by an author noted for making up words, only some of which gained currency, 70 years ago does not make for a reasonable basis for the claim that (The Craythur is a term used in Ireland to commonly refer to whiskey. At least this version is less incorrect in that it does not make the claim that it's a modern Irish term, which it patently isn't, seeing as how the book was written in English.Minion-for-hire (talk) 01:54, 21 December 2011 (UTC)

I had already removed the reference to the wiki perhaps you missed that. The reference I added is for a book published in 2006 entitled A Dictionary of Hiberno-English By Terence Dolan, a notable and distinguished academic, currently Professor of Old and Middle English at UCD. I believe this reference more than meets WP:V. I've therefore also removed your "dubious" tag, since the information is not "inaccurate" - which is what the tag is supposed to be used for. --HighKing (talk) 17:40, 21 December 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, I totally missed that. My apologies. I still don't much like it - I don't think it's that common a usage or particularly relevant, but that's entirely my opinion. I also think BarrelProof phrased it best of all of us. I'm still inexperienced with Wikipedia, and was following WP:BOLD. Thanks for sorting the reference. Minion-for-hire (talk) 20:18, 23 December 2011 (UTC)

Distillation

Is Irish Whiskey distilled on the grain or off? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.220.177.152 (talk) 15:55, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

Map showing 3 of the 4 distilleries

Is it possible to add the fourth distillery onto the map (Kilbeggan) so it doesn't appear incomplete? I would but I don't know how to. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.125.16.94 (talk) 19:37, 11 January 2012 (UTC)

Barley?

I would like to see the difference between ryes and scotches amplified. With all the discussion about malting and peat, the main difference in taste is due to the use of barley. Jamesons tastes like a very light scotch, but i have heard people argue that it's really a whiskey (meaning more of a rye) It's not made from rye and it doesn't taste like rye, but the fact that it's made from barley or a mix of grain neutral and barley is not highlighted. I agree that it is a fine point but it's the first point of confusion that most people hit.Longinus876 (talk) 11:10, 1 August 2013 (UTC)

First off, Irish whiskey is not Scotch whisky, nor is Canadian whisky (what I presume you mean by "rye"). But all are whiskeys, so your entire discussion is prefaced by severe errors (such as saying the word "whiskey" means it's "more of a rye"). Maybe you should start by reading the general whisky article, and learning about the various types and their manufacturing processes. oknazevad (talk) 14:17, 1 August 2013 (UTC)

Hey listen, I didn't say that Irish Whiskey is Scotch. Have you tasted Irish Whiskey? Maybe instead of being insulting you should put down your bottle of whatever you're drinking and get a brain.Longinus876 (talk) 05:43, 2 August 2013 (UTC)

Single grain/grain whiskey

Within the section for Irish Whiskey styles at the bottom, I think it should likely include single grain whiskey as this is a component of Irish blended whiskey as well as a product produced under a number of labels, e.g. Teeling and Greenore. I'm not sure if poitin should be listed, it is not typically considered a whiskey.Darlough (talk) 20:02, 30 August 2016 (UTC)

Grain whiskey is already included in the section, and the examples subsection already includes both Greenore and Teeling. I'm not sure what you'd like us to add that isn't already included. oknazevad (talk) 20:27, 30 August 2016 (UTC)

History

The fourth paragraph states: The oldest known documented record of whiskey in Ireland was in 1405; in the Annals of Clonmacnoise it was written that the head of a clan died after "taking a surfeit of aqua vitae" at Christmas.

The Red Book of Ossory says otherwise. The Digitized and Online – Archive of the Month December 2017, at https://dublin.anglican.org/news/2017/12/04/the-red-book-of-ossory gives an earlier period, the 14th century. A glance at https://craftirishwhiskey.com/whiskey-guide/history-of-whiskey/ talks of 1324 as does https://www.causewaycoastwhiskeyreviews.com/2022/09/aqua-vitae.html What would one do here? Moitraanak (talk) 11:07, 15 March 2024 (UTC) Moitraanak (talk) 10:14, 16 March 2024 (UTC)