Jay Bradley on the history of Irish whiskey | Jay Bradley

Jay Bradley, Founder of The Craft Irish Whiskey Co explores the turbulent history and enduring appeal of Irish whiskey…

Irish whiskey is now the fastest growing spirit globally. And since 2009, global exports of Irish whiskey have increased by 300%, according to the Irish food board.

For the first time in about century, Irish whiskey is taking a stand against the Scotch, American and Japanese markets.

At The Craft Whiskey Co. we couldn’t be happier to be part of this renaissance in Irish whiskey. It’s the country’s favourite export, and one steeped in a history as turbulent as it was spectacular. The story of Irish whiskey is the story of Ireland throughout the 20th century — embattled, challenged but ultimately triumphant. And as we head into a 2020 that looks set to continue the world’s love affair with Irish whiskey, it’s a good time to look at this history and see how far it’s come.

The early history of Irish whiskey

In the 12th century, Irish whiskey was one of the first distilled drinks in Europe, and while we know it was still being made, the records are sparse for the next 200 years. The first recorded mention is in 1405 in the Annals of Clonmacnoise. This was 89 years before the first mention in Scotland in 1494. Before this period the Irish ruled the Inner Hebrides known as Dalriada. The Inner Hebrides is where popular whisky regions lay such as Islay, Campbelltown and Jura and their main form of tourism is whisky. Some historians agree that the Irish monks invented whisky distillation using malted barley and brought it to its northern province being Dalriada, now known as the Inner Hebrides, Scotland.

Whisky — the “water of life”

Between the 17th and 20th centuries, more than 75% of the whisky bought and consumed globally was Irish whiskey. And before the first world war, whiskey was Ireland’s primary export, with most of it enjoyed in the US.

Ireland industrialized whiskey, specifically Dublin. They built large scale operations and perfected the distillation techniques still used today. Doing this ensured a higher quality, consistent product, and removed the majority of fusel oils that made people ill, blind or caused death. The rest of the world was more akin to what people would imagine as moonshiners in the hills of Kentucky. Making whiskey unregulated. At this time, Dublin whiskey was seen globally as the ‘gold standard’. So much so, Scotland and England fraudulently sent their whiskey to Dublin customs warehouses, got a Dublin customs stamp and then sent the whisky back to the UK and America and sold for the Dublin whiskey premium price. This hurt Irish whiskey’s reputation as the quality wasn’t the same as the major Dublin distilleries.

Then came the blended cheaper Scottish whisky. This was like taking 10% of real malted (but very young) whisky and adding 90% of a neutral grain spirit to make a far cheaper bottle of whisky. Doing this made a lighter drinking spirit — and many argued it wasn’t real whiskey. However, for many pallets this was easier to drink and mix into cocktails as it was cheaper. A bit like taking a glass of single malt and adding water to smooth out the edges and bring the alcohol burn down, they added a flavourless spirit, (similar to vodka) to keep the ABV above the legal requirement. It made a young 3-year-old malt more palatable rather than having to wait for it to age for 10+ years. So, they figured out how to skip the wait period and cut pure quality whiskey with cheaper neutral spirit. The Irish distillers refused to cut their whiskey as it was seen as the ‘Champagne’ of sparkling wine. The Dublin distilleries needed to let the public know the difference in the cheaper blended whiskey versus the premium whiskey they made, and so John Jameson III along with three other large whiskey houses being Roe & Co, William Jameson and John Powers wrote a book called Truths About Whisky to alert the public to the ‘fraud’ in the industry.

For a time, this gave the Irish back some of the market they were losing to its cheaper blended Scottish counterpart.

Troubles ahead… whiskey and war

But then came war. In 1914, barley was rerouted to feed soldiers and it became too dangerous for export ships as German U-Boats surrounded Britain and Ireland. Many Irish distilleries went bankrupt over this turbulent time. Then, the Irish war for independence with the crown or the Anglo-Irish War made times hard for distilleries. Trade tariffs put in place damaged Irish whiskey exports. During the war, some distilleries such as Roe & Co and William Jameson’s were taken over by rebel forces. Heavy gunfire and fighting destroyed some.

Then more disaster hit Irish whiskey — it lost a huge export market in the US due to Prohibition. In 1932, Ireland had a trade war with Britain which saw a total lock out for Irish exports to Commonwealth countries. This crippled the Irish economy. So, by the Second World War in 1939, Irish whiskey production had plummeted — from 12 million cases a year to a mere 100,000. Which, per capita 12 million cases, is a larger production volume that Scottish whisky enjoys today.

Just four distilleries survived, Cork Distillers, Bushmills, Powers and John Jameson. For years they stayed small, fighting over local customers, afraid to go global. Then, in 1966, three of these merged to form the Irish Distillers Limited (IDL), with the fourth (Bushmills) joining in 1972. From here on out they held the monopoly on Irish whiskey. Most of which was still only sold locally with very little exported. Scottish whisky started taking over the global market Irish whiskey once held. With over 100 distilleries all working independently Scotland’s whisky industry thrived. This allowed many entrepreneurs to innovate, expand and make great returns, while Ireland’s market merged into one company with no competitors. We stayed small.

The modern Irish whiskey market

Jameson, that today sits on every bar shelf internationally, was born in 1966. It wasn’t what they produced in the 1800s that made them the gold standard. Back then it was pure pot still whiskey. But Jameson today is bottled with only a fraction of the pure pot still, followed by a heavy dose of the neutral grain spirit, now known today as “grain whiskey”.

It was a copycat blend like was done in Scotland. They did the same to their Bushmills brand, and their Tullamore DEW brand too. Made them all cheaper blends. Only a handful of brands like Redbreast survived as pure pot still like it was back in the 1800s.

By the late 1980s, Irish whiskey was very much an underdog in the spirits market, with sales barely scraping 2 million cases a year. For comparison, at the same time, Scotch whisky was selling around 100 million cases globally every year. Irish whiskey was only sold into 27 cities in the US, while Scottish whisky was sold into all 285 cities.

The monopoly on Irish whiskey remained with IDL for almost three decades, until the independent Cooley Distillery opened in Dundalk in 1987. Later, French drinks conglomerate Pernod Ricard bought IDL and its brands, which is what marks the start of a new surge of investment and interest in the Irish whiskey market. Pernod expanded into all US markets with Jameson. Bushmills, which competed with Jameson, was sold to Diageo in 2005.

Then, in 2012 Beam-Suntory bought the Cooley Distillery, the global Tequila giant Jose Cuervo acquired Bushmills from Diageo and Bacardi bought a stake in the Teeling Whiskey Company, based in Dublin. This investment from key global drinks conglomerates powered the whiskey market into becoming a global player again.

And by 2018, more than 10 million cases of Irish whiskey were being sold globally — a 500% increase on the 1980s. Exports of Irish whiskey increased in value to 623 million Euros as the industry began delivering premium brands around the world.

Entering new key markets

The US is still the biggest market for Irish whiskey by a long shot. In 2017, 44% of the total output from Ireland went to the States — that’s 4.1 million cases. Ireland itself comes next with 6.5% of the market share, which is 600,000 cases.

This new demand for Irish whiskey gives the sector the scope to create new single malt whiskeys, single pot still whiskeys, premium brands, ultra-premium brands and unite to bring consumers more choice. And I predict that its popularity will rival the Scottish and American whiskies.

Other key expansion markets for Irish whiskey around the world right now include the rest of the UK, South Africa, Germany, France and Russia. In 2017, each of these countries bought around 400,000 cases, together totalling 20% of the market. And while France flatlined, all other export markets grew in 2017 and 2018, with UK sales up 12.5% and Russian by just under 20%.

What makes Irish whiskey stand-out?

What makes Irish whiskey stand-out is the process. It’s exclusive. Other major whisky markets, such as Japanese, can use blends from different countries to create the final product. Irish whiskey, by law, can only be distilled and matured in Ireland itself. This really amps up the premium nature of the product.

Our burgeoning industry really works together to protect and promote the reputation of this beloved export. In 2019, the European Commission approved Irish whiskey as a geographical indication (GI).

Receiving the GI accreditation ensures protection across the category.

At The Craft Irish Whiskey Co., which I Founded in 2015, we bring another element to the Irish whiskey market. By creating only ultra-premium craft products, we don’t focus on volume, but on quality. We’re the only Irish whiskey company to cask at 52% ABV. By adding water upfront, we use a unique aging process that is slower and more expensive, but the end product is rich, deep, flavourful and an Irish whiskey that shows off everything that’s great about this beloved product.