Irish Whiskey
‘Irish whiskey’ as would be expected is made in Ireland.
It is commonly believed to be the oldest spirit distilled in Europe with origins in the twelfth century. The ‘Old Bushmills Distillery’ in Ireland claims to have obtained a license in 1608.
The word ‘whiskey’ is derived from the Gaelic ‘uisce beatha’ meaning ‘water of life’. Irish whiskey was spelt with the extra ‘e’ to differentiate it from the cheaper varieties which had flooded markets in the nineteenth century. Nowadays ‘whiskey’ is used to denote spirits produced in America and Ireland, while ‘whisky’ without the ‘e’ means it is produced in other parts of the world.
Irish whiskies should not be confused with ‘Scotch’ which is produced in Scotland. Although they are somewhat similar, ‘peat’ is not used to malt Irish whiskies and this is why Irish whiskies do not have an earthly taste like some scotches.
The types of whiskies produced in Ireland are: Blended whiskey, single malt, pure pot still and single grain.
‘Pure pot still’ is whiskey which is made of cent percent barley, either mixed malted or unmalted and distilled in pot stills. The unmalted barley is what gives the whiskey its unique Irish taste. There are only a few whiskies which are ‘pure pot still’.
Single malt whiskey is made from cent percent malted barley and grain whiskey is made from grains distilled in a column still. Grain whiskey is lighter and has a neutral flavor.
As Irish whiskies are distilled thrice, they have a soft, rounded flavor.
This entry was posted on Thursday, July 10th, 2008 at 10:15 am and is filed under Whiskey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.