Irish whiskey
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.
The monopoly situation was ended by an academically conceived launch of the first new distillery in decades, Cooley Distillery, in 1987. Since 1990, Irish whiskey has seen a resurgence in popularity and has been the fastest-growing spirit in the world every year since. With exports growing by over 15% per annum, existing distilleries have been expanded and a number of new distilleries constructed. Ireland has 32 distilleries in operation, with more either planned or under development.
History
Irish whiskey was one of the earliest distilled drinks in Europe, arising around the 12th century. It is believed that Irish monks brought the technique of distilling perfumes back to Ireland from their travels to southern Europe around 1,000 AD. The Irish then modified this technique to obtain a drinkable spirit.Although termed "whiskey", the spirit produced during this period would have differed from what is currently recognised as whiskey, as it would not have been aged, and was often flavoured with aromatic herbs such as mint, thyme, or anise. Irish Mist, a whiskey liqueur launched in 1963, is purportedly based on such a recipe.
Although known to have occurred for hundreds of years, records of whiskey production in Ireland can be difficult to come by, particularly in the earlier years when production was unregulated. Even in later years, as production was frequently illicit, official records bear little resemblance to reality. In addition, as many Irish records were traditionally oral rather than written, details on early production are likely lost.
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. Its first known mention in Scotland dates from 1494. However, it is known that by 1556 whiskey was widespread, as an act passed by the Parliament of Ireland declared whiskey to be "a drink nothing profitable to be drunken daily and used, is now universally throughout this realm made". This act also made it technically illegal for anyone other than "the peers, gentlemen and freemen of larger towns" to distil spirits without a licence from the Lord Deputy. However, as Crown control did not extend far beyond the Pale, a fortified area around Dublin, this had little effect. Irish whiskey is also described in Aqua Vitæ: its commodities describ'd by Richard Stanyhurst.
Start of licensed distillation
In 1608, King James I granted a licence to Sir Thomas Phillips, a landowner in County Antrim. Today Kilbeggan Distillery in Kilbeggan, County Westmeath, lays claim to the title of oldest distillery in Ireland, as the first distillery in Kilbeggan was established in 1757. Despite this the licence was continuously paid and whiskey is currently distilled in Kilbeggan using the original 1757 licence. Kilbeggan also has what is believed to be the oldest operational copper pot still in the world, first used in 2007 after being "last used in the 19th century". However it is through the earlier 1608 licence that the Old Bushmills Distillery lays claim to being the oldest surviving grant of licence to distil in the world. However, the current Bushmills distillery and company was not registered to trade until 1784 and despite the promotion of the Phillips licence as its claimed founding date, the Bushmills distillery does not clearly descend from any distillery operated by Phillips through ownership or location.In 1661, the Crown introduced a tax on whiskey production in Britain and Ireland. Therefore, in theory, all whiskey distillers in Ireland were to register and pay taxes. Although Crown control now extended far beyond the Pale, there is limited official record of whiskey distillation during this period. One reason for this is that, until 1761, registration was done on a voluntary basis. Therefore, as registration entailed paying a tax, it was much avoided for obvious reasons. Another reason is that those tasked with enforcing the law were frequently local landlords, and, if their tenants were the illicit distillers, it was not in their best interests to enforce the law. It is known, however, that more distillation occurred than is officially recorded, as when registration later became compulsory, several registrations detail the use of existing facilities.
From a regulatory perspective, the introduction of the act is a historical milestone as it provides a clear distinction between licit and illicit whiskey distillation in Ireland. For many years following its introduction, whiskey produced by registered distillers was known as "parliament whiskey", while that produced by illicit producers was, and still is referred to as Poitín, a Gaelic term meaning "small pot" in reference to the small pot stills used by the illicit distillers. However, although traditionally the product of illicit production, many legal varieties of Poitín have come to market in recent years.
In the 18th century, demand for whiskey in Ireland grew significantly, driven both by strong population growth, and by displacing the demand for imported spirits. Growth in the latter is very much visible in the share of Irish duties paid on legal spirits in the late 1700s. In 1770, whiskey only accounted for 25% of the total duty on spirits received by the exchequer, while duty on imported rum accounted for 51%, with the remainder divided equally between brandy and gin. By 1790, however, whiskey's share accounted for 66%.
As a consequence of this increased demand, some distillers prioritized quantity over quality, to the detriment of their product. This prompted Parliament to pass the Distillation Act 1759 prohibiting distillers from using any ingredient other than malt, grain, potatoes or sugar in the production of whiskey, and specifically prohibiting several unsavoury ingredients. Another consequence was that the potential revenue lost to the exchequer through the under-reporting of output at legal distilleries and the tax avoidance of illicit producers became more significant, prompting Parliament to introduce the Distillers Act 1779. This significantly reformed how the taxes payable on whiskey production were calculated. Previously, taxes were payable on production volumes, which were subject to manipulation. However, this act removed the potential for under-reporting by making taxes payable on a distillery's potential output, rather than its actual, or reported, output. In addition, the act penalised smaller distillers in an attempt to reduce reporting fraud.
Due to the stringency of this act, which made assumptions about output and the minimum numbers of days which a still was in operation per annum, many of the smaller or less efficient registered distilleries were forced underground. In 1779, when the act was introduced, there were 1,228 registered distilleries in Ireland; however, by 1790, this number had fallen to 246, and by 1821, there were just 32 licensed distilleries in operation. This had the effect of concentrating licit distillation in a smaller number of distilleries based mainly in the larger urban centres, such as Cork and Dublin, which offered better markets for legal producers. In the rural areas distillation became a more illicit activity, in particular in the northwest of Ireland where agricultural lands were poorer and poitín provided a supplemental source of income to the tenant farmers, an income which landlords were again slow to curtail as it would have weakened their abilities to pay rent. The scale of this illicit activity was such that one surveyor estimated that duty was paid on only 2% of the spirit consumed in the northwestern provinces of Ulster and Connaught, while Aeneas Coffey estimated that there were over 800 illicit stills in operation in Inishowen, County Donegal alone. By contrast, illicit distillation in Munster and Leinster was less extensive.
By some measures the act was successful, as the volume of whiskey on which excise was paid increased from 1.2 million to 2.9 million gallons. In addition, it prompted capital investments in establishing larger distilleries, due to the need for economies of scale to profit from legal distillation. However, when demand for whiskey increased in the early 1800s, due to population growth, and changing consumption patterns, much of the demand was initially met by small-scale illicit distillers who did not need to pay tax or comply with the restrictions of the 1779 act. In fact, so much illicit spirit was available during this period that the licensed distillers in Dublin complained that it could be obtained "as openly in the streets as they sell a loaf of bread".
Reform and expansion
In 1823, the authorities, acknowledging the problems with the licensing system, cut the duties by half, and introduced the Excise Act 1823 which significantly reformed the existing legislation, making legal distillation much more attractive. In particular, the reforms removed the need for distillers to rush production in order to produce as much whiskey than duties would be paid on, leading to improvements in fuel efficiency and product quality, as distillers could operate the stills at a more appropriate pace. In addition, restrictions on the type and capacity of stills used were removed, granting distillers more freedom to tailor their equipment. Another significant reform was a change to how duty was paid. Previously, duty was charged monthly, based on still output, meaning that distilleries paid tax on whiskey before it was sold. However, under the reforms, duty was to be paid only when the whiskey was actually sold, making its storage in bond more attractive, as less of the distillery's working capital would be tied up in already-taxed stock.Together, these reforms greatly improved the distilling landscape, leading to a drop in illicit whiskey production and a boom in investment in legal distilleries. In 1821, two years before the reforms, there were 32 licensed distilleries in Ireland. Just four years later, this number had risen to 82, and reached 93 by 1835, a 19th-century peak. The increased attractiveness of legal distillation is evident in the scale of the equipment used. Prior to the Excise Act 1823, the largest pot still in Ireland had a capacity of just 750 gallons. By 1825, however, the Old Midleton Distillery operated a 31,618-gallon pot still, which remains the largest ever built; Note: the largest pot still in operation in the world, located next door in the New Midleton Distillery, are roughly half this size, at 16,498 gallons.
Domestic demand was reduced somewhat in the mid-1800s, due to the Temperance movement of the 1830s, and the Great Famine of the 1840s. Between 1823 and 1900, however, whiskey output in Ireland still increased fourfold, and with access to the overseas markets provided by the British Empire, Irish whiskey became the most popular spirit in the world. "Dublin whiskey" was particularly well regarded.