I’ve spent the last week or so taking a deep dive into the world of Irish whiskey and the famous spirit’s tumultous history and it’s been quite an eye-opening journey.
As a Fitzpatrick, a whiskey connoisseur and a spiritual advisor, I thought I knew Irish whiskey fairly well. And I pretty much did. But what I’ve learned in the last ten days or has really been eye opening!
Irish whiskey was the undisputed spirit champion of the world for many decades in the late 1700s and well into the early 1800s. Through Britain’s vast colonies the Irish had an outlet to sell and share their delicious spirit around the globe and production was at an all-time high that’s not been reached since. (But more about that later).
In 1823 an excise agent, Aeneas Coffey, patented what he called a continuous (or column still). This new invention allowed for whiskey (and other spirits like gin) to be produced faster and in much higher quantities.
When introducing it to his fellow distillers and countryman, however, he received much resistance. Irish distillers were convinced that their method, Pot Still, produced a much richer and higher quality spirit. The problem with Pot Still, though, was that production was slow and done in single batches. Still, the Irish resisted.
The Scots!? Not so much! Many Scotch distillers saw this new invention as revolutionary and embraced it as a way to outpace their island competitior and embraced it immediately. The Coffey still flourished in Scotland and so then did Scotch whiskey! By the turn of the century, the tables had turned.
But Irish whiskey still held its own until two very dramatic events. The Irish Civil War (Or War of Independence) in 1822 cut off their connections to Britain’s global colonial markets and the introduction of Prohibition in America was a tremendous blow to their other major export market.
Steady decline over the next few decades brought the Irish whiskey industry to the brink of oblivion. While once boasting over 100 distilleries (far more if you count the illegal stills) by the 1970s they were down to just two: Bushmills in the North and Midleton in Dublin. To make matters worse, those two merged to create “Irish Distillers” and effectively created a monopoly.
So what changed? What happened?
John Teeling happened. When he created the Cooley Distillery and rebuilt the iconic Kilbeggan Distillery in 1987, Teeling effectively broke the monopoly and paved the way for the emergence of others and the resurgence of a now thriving industry. Jameson and their worldwide marketing campaign played an important part as well in the comeback.
Teeling’s sons, Jack and Stephen, opened the Teeling Distillery in 2015 and became the first new whiskey maker in the former world capital of whiskey in nearly 125 years!! Their innovative style has been a huge success and so has the creativity and marketing savvy of many other new distilleries on the Emerald Isle.
As of this writing, there are over 40 active distilleries in Ireland with over two dozen more in the works! Irish whiskey for the last two decades has become the fastest growing spirit in a whiskey industry that has exploded across the globe.
And so we can all sit back, enjoy and raise a glass and a toast to one of the most amazing comeback stories in business history!
Slainte!
Want to taste the Teeling and know more? I will be holding a class in the vaunted Warren Whiskey Library this Saturday at 3pm! Tickets are still available and are just $39 for six tastings and the seminar. Text me direct at 561-777-4848 to purchase tix with me or you grab a seat on EventBrite under Warren Delray!
