Irish whiskeys to fall in love with

The Irish whiskey industry is celebrating St Patrick’s Day with the Irish Whiskey Association welcoming new figures which show that Irish whiskey is becoming an increasingly significant player in the higher-end whiskey market, with increased supply of super-premium and exclusive Irish whiskeys coming on-stream. 

William Lavelle, Director of the Irish Whiskey Association said, “While Irish whiskey has been the world’s fastest growing spirit since 2010, this growth has primarily taken place at standard price points. This is changing, as more and more consumers are turning to Irish whiskey as their luxury whiskey of choice.

“With more supply coming available of age-statement, super-premium brands – from both established and newer distilleries – it is clear that Irish whiskey is going to be an increasingly important player at the higher end of the whiskey market, becoming a real alternative to Scotch single malts.”

The IWA say that the increased supply of age-statement Irish whiskeys is being led by Bushmills Single Malts and Redbreast Single Pot Still.

Colum Egan, Master Distiller at Bushmills Distillery, says: “Bushmills Single Malt is at the heart of everything we do. In 2021, we saw strong momentum for our core aged range, with sales growth far in excess of the global single malt category trend. The success of our second wave of Causeway Collection single malt, limited edition, prestige releases is a clear testament to consumers’ passion for Bushmills worldwide.”

Billy Leighton, Master Blender at Irish Distillers, said, “The Irish saying ‘an rud is annamh is iontach’ means that ‘the thing that's seldom is wonderful’ and this is particularly true in the context of Irish whiskey, presenting a real opportunity for the industry as premiumisation continues to gather pace. More and more consumers are continuing to show their appreciation for our single pot still portfolio, led by Redbreast, the world’s most awarded single pot still whiskey, which had record volume growth in the first half of fiscal year 2021, up 19 per cent). We are confident that the quality and variety of our broader portfolio, coupled with the shift in consumer appetite towards more premium and super-premium Irish whiskeys, will continue to support growth around the world.”

At home in Ireland, CGA’s on-premise report shows that whiskey now accounts for more than one in five (22 per cent) serves of spirits in Ireland and among whiskey drinkers, three in four (75 per cent) choose Irish brands, reflecting a shift in the tendency to ‘support local’ the COVID crisis. As such, Irish whiskey now accounts for 83 per cent of all whiskey sales in Ireland—three percentage points higher than a year ago.

Drinks Trade was fortunate to be a part of a tasting, sampling whiskies from Tullamore, Boann, Dublin Liberties and Slane Distilleries.

Tullamore Distillery

Tullamore D.E.W (the initials are those of general manager and late owner of the distillery from the 1800s, Daniel E Williams) is the second largest selling brand of Irish whiskey globally behind Jameson.

Owned by William Grant & Sons since 2010, Tullamore Distillery was founded in 1829 in the county town of Tullamore in the County of Offlay. The distillery was closed for 60 years before it was re-opened in 2014 following a huge renovation that brought whisky production back to the county.

The grain to glass distillery produces single malt, grain and a pot still whisky, all triple distilled and matured in the bottle. The distillery produced 18 million bottles this past year and employs more than 100 people from right the county and the distillery has its own cooperage on site.

Boann Distillery

Boann Distillery is a family owned business and was awarded the World’s Best New Make Spirits at the World Whiskies Awards in 2021 for its single pot still spirit made with 40 per cent malted barley, 55 per cent unmalted barley, 3.75 per cent oats and 1.25 per cent rye.

The Boann River runs through the district and the distillery uses its water as well as harvesting its barley from the region.

Boann's whiskey brand, The Whistler, is named after owner, Peter Cooney’s, father who whistles around the distillery. The notes of the tune of The Whistling Gypsy dance around the wooden bottle stop of each bottle and the distillery changes the tune each year. It is Irish poetry at its best.

Produced in Boann’s state of the art distillery with its handcrafted copper pot stills, Boann is a leader, innovator and game changer in Irish Whisky. The distillery worked with Fionnán O’Connor on his PhD The History and Culinary Potential of Lost Irish Mash Bills. A mash bill is the grain mix that creates the spirit's recipe.  Boann supported Mr O’Connor’s research, sharing its stills with him so that he could create and investigate how the distinct grain types contributed to the profile of each whisky and ultimately, the PhD has challenged the very boundaries of how Irish whiskey is, defined particularly in relation to the agricultural profile or mix of oats, wheat and rye.

The distillery is the first in Ireland to employ sub-coolers and nanocopper technology, giving the inside of the neck of the copper still an uneven surface, which quadruples the copper contact area delivering a cleaner distillate running off the still.

It specialises in pots still whisky and its whisky, The Whistler PX I Love You Triple Distilled, Single Malt Whiskey is matured in bourbon barrels and finished in Pedro Ximenez casks.

Mr Cooney describes it as a “Sherry bomb” and “decadent”, an atypical whisky with notes of berries, sultanas and sticky demera sugar. It was a big hit with the participants of the tasting and is sold exclusively in Australia at Dan Murphy’s.

Dublin Liberties Distillery

From the rural expanse of Boann, we then headed into the crowded centre of Dublin Liberties Distillery - squeezed into the tightest of tight spaces in the Liberties in Dublin, described by the distillery itself as a ‘wild and wayward quarter of old Dublin'.

The 400 year old building has been restored to a state of the art distillery which opened just a few years ago.

The Dubliner is bright, bold, brash and young. Its packaging eye catching, youthful and spirited. It belongs in the hands of those Peaky Blinders.

Spokesperson David Gee said,"The Whiskey for me ticks all of the boxes of what Irish whiskey is supposed to be: triple distilled beautiful single malt blended with grain whisky....it's a light and easy, approachable introduction, I'd say, to the category...

"It just takes me back to being in Dublin."

We sampled the Bourbon Cask 3 Year Old blend and the Honeycomb and Whiskey Liqueur, described by Mr Gee as “fiercely enjoyable” and by one of the participants as “good enough to put on your porridge in the morning”. Suffice to say, we were well into the tasting by this stage.

Slane Distillery

Bought from the Cunningham Family by Brown Forman in 2015, Slane Castle is one of the greatest rock n roll venues in the world. Brown Forman forged a partnership with the Cunningham family and spent $50m to build a distillery on the 1500 acre estate. The distillery has been operational from 2017, harvests its own barley and the water for the whisky comes from the River Boyne which runs through the estate.

Stuart Reeves, Brand Manager and Linus Schaxmann, Brand Ambassador (Australia) explained that Slane make their own barrels from virgin American oak at the Brown Forman cooperages in the US. Slane also uses ex-bourbon barrels from Tennessee. In Tennessee, in bourbon and whisky laws, barrels may only be used once and then has to be sold on.

The direct supply chain between Ireland and Tennessee keeps the supply chain efficient and the flavour very fresh.

Mr Schaxmann said, "When we go to Slane, and tell them that we love their whiskey in Australia, it just blows their mind. It's a small, quiet little county. They love what they do, they are proud of what they do.

"It's so cool to say, 'We love your whisky on the other side of the world'."

It's true. We really do.