|
|
|
Irish Whiskey 
Irish whiskey's origin can be traced as far back as the sixth century AD when missionary monks held the keys to knowledge; among their secrets was that of distillation. There were once over two thousand distilleries in Ireland, and whiskey was produced from one end of the island to the other. Today whiskey is still produced at both ends of the island, but sadly no longer in between. For now only three distilleries still survive, distilleries with very different histories. Bushmills in Northern Ireland dates back to 1608 and probably beyond, Midleton near Cork in the Republic of Ireland which was built in the 1970's, and most recently Cooley's near Dundalk which commenced production in 1989 with a business development grant. It was not long ago that Irish whiskey was found all around the globe, the Portuguese used it to fortify port, and there were said to be four hundred brands on sale in the United States. But it was Irish distiller's refusal to accept modern techniques that proved to be their undoing. Aeneas Coffey offered his version of the continuous still to them in the 1820's, it was only when he failed to get Irish backers that he turned to Scotland. This was to be the turning point in the two whiskies fortunes, Scotch went on to dominate the world market, and Irish fell from grace. By 1966 there were only five distilleries left. Four of them, Jameson, Power, Midleton and Tullamore came together to form Irish Distillers in a desperate attempt to save the eighteen brands they produced from extinction. Six years later, the fifth, Bushmills, joined the rest. This meant that the entire production of Irish whiskey now belonged to a single company. This situation changed only recently with the formation of the Cooley operation. Diversity is not dead however, as the high tech Midleton distillery has the capability to produce exactly whiskies which were produced in more than a dozen distilleries all over Ireland, using its impressive array of one hundred and forty different fraction receivers. Irish whiskey is made from malted and unmalted barley as well as grains such as oats and wheat, but, with the exception of Cooley, the malts are unpeated. The spirit is produced in both pot and continuous stills, but for the former types triple distillation is the norm, rather than double distillation as in Scotland. The heads and tails are removed on both the second and third distillations, resulting in a very smooth and mellow spirit. Minimum maturation period is again three years, but in reality it is usually much longer.  |
|
||
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|