ForbesLife Alcohol BARRELLING Irish whiskey, once globally popular and dominant, is experiencing a resurgence within BACK and outside its borders By Amrita Das flimsy wooden plank hangs low in the oaky-smelling shebeen (old Irish illegal bar). I push myself through A groups of drunken revellers to spot the copper pot still. Below the dim yellow light, I see the barman carelessly pour the uisce beatha (Gaelic for ‘water of life’, as whiskey is referred to in Ireland) into glasses. “Do you like it?” a familiar voice distracts me. I open my eyes to realise I am standing in no shebeen but in the oldest licenced distillery in the world, Old Bushmills Distillery’s 1608 Bar. And Lauren, my tour guide at Old Bushmills, is expecting an answer to the beautiful Bushmills 16 Year Old Single Malt I have just tasted. “What do I say—it is like finding a time capsule steeped in Irish whiskey,” I tell her. The Old Bushmills Distillery in Northern Ireland’s County Antrim got its licence in 1608. However, it was S E Six Irish MAG I whiskeys to try TTY • Powers Gold Label GE • Teeling Single Pot Still VIA • Green Spot Single Pot UIG Still S / Jameson Distillery E in Dublin founded • Bushmills 16 Year Old MAG by John Jameson, I Single Malt who popularised the concept of • Midleton Very Rare triple distillation • Palace Bar Limited for Irish whiskies EDUCATION EDUCATION Edition 98 | FORBES INDIA | APRIL 26, 2019 APRIL 26, 2019 | FORBES INDIA | 99 ForbesLife Alcohol only in 1784 that it was registered, and conduct numerous multi-day tours the pot still became its trademark. across Ireland. “Since Irish whiskey In its formative years, poitín (or matures in casks for at least three potcheen, similar to the American years, many distilleries produce moonshine) was homemade from gin to keep the production and potatoes or barley and sold illegally establishment costs going,” he adds. in shebeens, away from the taxman’s I know what Callely means when reach. The traditional Irish whiskey, I see bottles outnumbering shelves at however, was made from a mash of the Celtic Whiskey Shop on Dawson malted and unmalted Irish barley in Street in Dublin, the largest whiskey single pot stills. It is common for locals shop in Ireland. Not only do they to be loyal to a single pot still, when stock Irish whiskeys and gins, but a it comes to their favourite tipple. host of Scottish, Japanese, Russian, Every whiskey produced in Ireland Indian, and Swedish whiskies, along is barrelled for a minimum of three with vodka and cognac. “We offer years and one day—a day extra than our clientele international names its Scottish counterpart. But the like Jameson, local favourites like most important differentiating factor Powers, single casks and a lot of between Irish and Scottish whiskeys independent bottlers,” says John is their distillation process: The O’Donovan, the store manager of peat-dried malted barley of Scotch is Celtic Whiskey Shop. “There are double-distilled, while the kiln-dried new whiskeys coming up every week, Irish whiskey is triple-distilled. with about 10 new whiskeys in the The process of triple distillation two weeks before Christmas. So was introduced by John Jameson, we’re trying to build more shelves.” (Clockwise from top left): The Knappogue Castle 12 Year Old single malt; a guide explains who founded the famous Jameson the history of Irish whiskey; the Bushmills 16 Year Old Single Malt; local whiskies on John offers me a tasting of Distillery Bow Street in Dublin in display at a shop in Dublin; copper pot stills at a distillery; tour of the whiskey cellar the special Knappogue Castle 12 1780. He believed that distilling the Year Old Single Malt. It comes spirit thrice enhanced its smoothness In every county of Northern Ireland Dublin] was a warning,” says John, my Distillery in County Louth, in 1989, set up a new distillery in Dublin by from an independent bottler and and flavours, which became a different flavour is being infused. tour guide who is taking me around it was the first in the century. In 2019. Called Roe & Co, it would be a has been aged for 12 years in a characteristic to Irish whiskey. Dublin’s Irish Whiskey Museum, an attempt to revive the old Irish dedication to George Roe, the founder bourbon cask, and finished in a I taste these elements in the The rise, and fall… where I am exploring new chapters liquor industry, Teeling acquired of George Roe & Co, and would be marsala (sweet Italian wine) cask. Bushmills Distillery Reserve 12 Perhaps Dublin is the only converging of Irish whiskey history. “There were historic brands like Kilbeggan. established near his old Thomas Street “There are only 690 bottles of it,” Year Old Single Malt. Its smooth factor on Ireland’s whiskey map. rivers of whiskey flowing through the In 1988, the French drinks Distillery, which shut shop in 1926. he adds. “My current favourite.” texture rolls on the palate, with By the late 19th century, the total streets in the Liberties and people conglomerate Pernod Ricard heavily Blackwater Distillery in County Throughout my trip, I see Lauren’s hints of sweetness. Lauren tells number of licenced distilleries cupped their hands to collect as invested in the Irish Distillers Waterford, which opened last words being reinforced: “Everyone’s me that the sweetness comes from on the island was 88 and the four much as they could.” Out of the 5,000 Group—formed in 1966 by a merger November, is yet another example palate is different. If our palates the time it spends in sherry casks. biggest—John Power & Son, John barrels of the spirit, only 61 were of John Jameson & Son, John of the revival of Irish whiskey. weren’t different, we wouldn’t like “Distilling is the science of whiskey Jameson & Sons, George Roe & rescued. The inferno, which set off the Powers & Son, and Cork Distilleries William Lavelle, head of Irish different whiskeys.” In Portrush, and maturation is the art,” she adds. Co, and William Jameson & Co— fire alarm at 8 pm on June 18, 1875, is Company—with a production unit Whiskey Association, commented Northern Ireland, my tour guide, As I travel across Northern operated from the Irish capital. Of believed to have killed 13 people, none in Midleton in County Cork. This on the occasion that Blackwater Dee Morgan says, “I quite like the Ireland and Dublin, I put Lauren’s these, George Roe transformed the of whom died because of the fire itself, helped make Jameson the face of was the 21st distillery in operation Bushmills Black Bush. It has a more words to test. The Kilbeggan Single Liberties neighbourhood of the city but because of alcohol poisoning. Irish whiskey worldwide, where it in Ireland. “Over the coming chocolatey taste to it.” In Dublin, Grain, for instance, is sweet with by becoming the largest producer By early 20th century, a number of gradually dominated 65 percent of months, we will see at least five O’Donovan prefers the Knappogue matured bourbon-wood flavours. of whiskey in the world. Hence, factors contributed to the plunge of sales of Irish whiskeys by 2016. more distilleries come on stream.” Castle 12 Year Old Single Malt. This spirit comes from Kilbeggan, the Liberties grew as the centre of Ireland’s whiskey industry—the Irish In 2015, Teeling’s sons Jack and Does this mean Irish whiskey is Callely Junior picks the Powers the world’s oldest whiskey distillery. whiskey production and distribution. Independence movement from 1919- Stephen further aided the industry’s a phoenix rising from the ashes? Gold Label as his favourite. And Its neighbour, Tullamore Dew from After the British Parliament passed 21, prohibition in the US (its strongest resurgence by opening Teeling “Apart from new distilleries John from the museum agrees. County Offaly, is preferred among the 1823 Excise Act, which sanctioned market), and rising taxes imposed by Distillery in the heart of Dublin, in the opening up, whiskey tourism is also “But how do the Irish drink the local Irish for its Original and the distilling of whiskey, 70 percent the local government. By the late 20th Liberties, making it the first distillery on the rise,” asserts John Callely their whiskey? With ice? With 12 Year Old Special Reserve. Both, of the global whiskey business was century, in 1976, the last distillery to open in the capital in 125 years. Jr, who takes me on an abridged water?” I ask John. “I am no one known for their smoothness, are managed by Irish distilleries. The Act in Dublin downed its shutters. British multinational alcoholic version of his Dublin Whiskey Story to tell you how to drink your aged in sherry and bourbon barrels, also encouraged smaller distilleries beverages company Diageo, producers tour. Callely has been working in whiskey,” he says promptly. Yet though the latter is more complex to mushroom across the island. …and rise of the world famous Guinness, the tourism sector since 1999, where another notion reinforced by due to its longer maturation period. “As if the Great Fire of 1875 [in When John Teeling set up the Cooley announced in 2017 that they would he and his father, John Callely Sr, all the Irish I have met. 100 | FORBES INDIA | APRIL 26, 2019 APRIL 26, 2019 | FORBES INDIA | 101.