Whiskey School

Trying to put Irish whiskey on a par with Scotch makes about as much sense as comparing the proverbial apples and pears. This has a lot to do with the completely different way it is made in Scotland. But it also has to do with different regulations and, not least, with what is known as terroir: regional raw materials and the mild climate of the green island, which lets the whiskey mature evenly and harmoniously without big swings in temperature.

To enjoy and understand an Irish whiskey with all your senses, you need a few basics.

"Each drink precedes a story", says an Irish proverb. So it is with Irish whiskey, because what few people know is that Ireland's whiskey tradition is as old as that of its Scottish cousins, perhaps even older, and no less glorious! Until well into the 19th century, Ireland was the undisputed world market leader in whisky.

And that is not all: it is quite possible that the first whisky was distilled not in Scotland but on the green island, because it can be shown that missionary monks brought the art of distillation from the Orient to the green island. When Saint Patrick set out from France for Ireland in the year 432 AD, he undoubtedly wanted above all to convert the heathens living there, but he probably also brought them the art of distillation.

But Irish whiskeys are, as the spelling with the "e" already suggests, completely independent drams that need not hide behind their Scottish cousins. Irish whiskeys taste fundamentally different from a Scotch, which can be explained by the traditionally different ways of making them: in Ireland whiskeys are mostly distilled three times in bulbous copper pot stills. This makes many Irish whiskeys softer and milder than Scottish single malts, and not only for that reason they are enjoying growing popularity.

The most striking difference between Scotch whisky and Irish whiskey is the spelling with the "e". There are many explanations for the spelling, but this one seems the most plausible to us: in the 19th century a new form of distilling, continuous distillation, spread quickly, above all in Scotland. While the Irish stuck to the elaborate triple distillation in their pot stills, the Scots flooded the markets with whisky made faster and cheaper by the new method. Cheap distilling by continuous distillation may have suited the Scots' reputed thriftiness, but the results at the time were not very convincing in quality. To set themselves clearly apart from the cheap, inferior Scottish spirits of the day, the Irish simply changed the spelling: Irish whiskey was born, and it has stayed that way to this day.

The mass emigration from Ireland to the USA in the wake of famine and misery may help to explain the "spelling migration" further. But unlike American products, which occasionally also use the "e", Irish whiskey is always spelled with an "e", across all brands and distilleries.

Text: Daniela Brack

Whisky / Whiskey

Whisky is a spirit obtained by distilling a beer-like liquid called mash, which is then stored and matured in wooden casks. The mash must be made from grain. Irish whiskey is always spelled with an "e" before the "y".

Scotch

A whisky that comes exclusively from Scotland and is made there.

Bourbon

Bourbon whiskey, or bourbon for short, is an American whiskey. It is distilled from a mix of grains that contains at least 51 percent corn. Besides corn, the mash for bourbon usually contains rye or barley. Bourbon must be matured in new but charred oak barrels, which give the whisky its own typical flavour. In principle bourbon may come from anywhere in the USA, but most of the big bourbon distilleries are in Kentucky or Tennessee.

Blend

A blend or blended whisky is a mixture of various other whiskies that differ in age and type. Blending aims to produce a quality that always stays the same and a reliable flavour profile.

Malt whisky

Malt whisky is made exclusively from malted barley. If the barley malt comes from a single distillery, the malt is called single malt or pure malt whisky.

Grain whisky

Grain whiskey is distilled from a mash of mostly unmalted grain (usually wheat, corn or rye) and malted barley. It is lighter in taste than malt or single pot still whiskey.

Single pot still whiskey

Single pot still whiskey is the name of a style of its own that exists only in Ireland! In production it differs from malt whisky in one essential point: the use of a mixture of unmalted and malted barley. This mixture was the Irish answer to a malt tax that the English introduced in Ireland in the middle of the 18th century. To get around the tax, which applied only to malted barley, the Irish began to add more and more unmalted barley to the mash of their whiskeys. The unmalted barley gives pot still whiskeys a typical light, fruity taste.

Text: Daniela Brack

Anyone who gets into Ireland and its whiskeys will inevitably stumble over it: poitín, or poteen. Poitín, pronounced "puh-cheen", is a clear spirit that really has nothing to do with whiskey, but is traditionally distilled all over Ireland in small pot stills (in the old days at home). That also explains why poitín is the Irish word for moonshine on the green island: the small stills had the advantage that you could distil with them discreetly (and illegally) at night…

Originally distilled from barley or other grains, poitín was also gladly made from potatoes. Although the knowledge of making poitín is certainly just as old as that of making whiskey, the name goes back to something that happened in the 1660s.

At that time the British government for the first time levied a tax on alcohol in Ireland. As a result, legal, more expensive whiskey was called uisce beatha, while illegally distilled alcohol was called uisce poitín.

In the following centuries, dodging the laws and the alcohol tax became a kind of national sport, and the stories and songs about poitín became part of Irish cultural heritage.

Poitín usually tastes, like vodka, lightly of grain with a hint of toffee, and it is oily in the glass. And while badly made poitín with its volatile alcohols tastes repulsive, a good poitín is really worth a try.

Text: Daniela Brack

Scotch whisky has fans all over the world who are positively "burning" for the many single malt and blended whiskies. Scotch, which is currently made in over 100 distilleries, tempts with the resounding names of its birthplaces. Lagavulin, Macallan and Highland Park are just a few of the distilleries to which the whisky owes its individual taste.

Scottish single malt whisky is famous for its outstanding quality and its varied aromas, shaped by the regions where it is distilled and matured for decades. Whiskies from Islay taste wonderfully smoky, sharp and peaty, while single malts from the Highlands are delightfully spicy and floral. Scottish blended whisky such as Ballantine's, Famous Grouse and Chivas Regal is also very popular and well known.

What is Scotch whisky?

• It comes without exception from Scottish distilleries
• It is distilled from malted barley (malt is barley that has first been soaked and then dried again)
• It matures for three years in oak casks
• It is bottled at at least 40 percent alcohol by volume

Where is whisky made in Scotland?

• Highlands
• Lowlands
• Speyside
• Campbeltown
• Islay and the islands

What is an original bottling?

• Bottled by the distillery
• Often part of the core range
• Often bottled at a constant drinking strength
• Often chill-filtered and coloured

Text: Daniela Brack