The Rise, Fall & Rebirth of Irish Whiskey
The Rise, Fall, & Rebirth of Irish Whiskey
As with any origin story there are several beliefs as to where Irish whiskey originated from. Many believe it was missionary monks who brought the knowledge of distillation to the island of Ireland, long before the technology we are familiar with was invented in Europe. Before technology developed to that point there were distillates called “Uisce Beatha” or “water of life”. It is known that during the sixteenth century Queen Elizabeth I was fond of the drink and would order barrels by the ship loads to be drunk by the court and herself. This trend would continue for hundreds of years and travel all the way around the globe. In Russia, Peter the Great declared “of all the wines of the world, Irish spirit is the best”. Although it was the most popular spirit consumed during the 19th century, especially after the French Cognac grape crops were destroyed in the 1880’s from disease, there were efforts to rid the world of it.
There were five reasons for the decline and rise of Irish whiskey over the course of over a hundred years
1. Father Matthew
In 1838, Father Matthew launched the “Cork Total Abstinence Society” in attempts to thwart the industry. The goal of this society was to keep a person sober for life. Although, this was called the total abstinence society, they did not avoid alcohol all together. Instead, they would switch to beer from hard liquor. They’re excuse for this was that Guiness was an iron rich beer, so they would take it as a supplement. It was not restricted to religion or class and instead was available for all. This society was the inspiration for the Prohibition in the United states as well. Guinness sales skyrocketed as it wasn’t considered a beer at the time, but instead an “iron supplement” prescribed by doctors. This act continued by hospitals until 1950. IF you have heard the slogan “Guinness is good for you!” then you now know where it originated.
During the course of 9 months he managed to round of 150,000 names to his list of Pledges. The movement rapidly spread across all parts of Ireland, and from 1838 to 1844 the profits of Irish whiskey fell by a half a million pounds. In relation to today’s currency exchange rate, that is an astronomical number! Keep in mind that in 1887, Irish distillers controlled about 70 percent of the world whiskey market, so there was a significant rise after the fall of the Cork Total Abstinence Society.
2. The Coffey Still
The introduction and invention of the Coffey still contributed to the decline of the Irish Whiskey industry. This created more competition, who were able to make spirits quicker and at a lower cost. The method most Irish distilleries used pot stills, which were slower, but produced more flavorful spirits.
3. Prohibition in America
Starting in 1919, and during the 14 years of the prohibition, Ireland was prohibited from sending alcohol to America. Some were able to smuggle bottles and barrels to the states, but the sales declined almost to nothing. At the same time Prohibition started, another event was starting in Ireland.
4. Ireland becomes a Republic
The Irish independence in 1919 severed the Irish whiskey companies ties with the British Empire. During the same year across the pond in America the Volstead Act brought the prohibition into act. The newly established government imposed heavy taxes on not only exporting whiskey, but domestic whiskey sales. The cap placed on export sales was half of what was the standard amount. This almost brought the industry to a standstill. This brought a rise in Scottish whiskey sales all over the world, inevitably triumphing over Irish whiskey sales.
5. World War II
The final haymaker for Irish whiskey was the World Wars. WWI would make it hard to export any whiskey, due to German U-boats surrounding the country yielding exportation. WWII would caused over 150 distilleries to either be destroyed or shut down, due to financial hardship from the wars. After the war only Bushmills, and IDL remained.
Rebirth
By the early 1960’s, only five distilleries were left; John Power & Son, John Jameson & Son, Cork Distilleries, Bushmills, and Coleraine. In 1966, John Power & Son, John Jameson & Son, Cork Distilleries merged to form the United Distillers of Ireland. The name was later changed to Irish Distillers Limited. The start of Cooley Distillery in 1987, was the first new distillery in Ireland in over a century. Most new distillates went to supermarket grocery shelves. Within the next year Pernod Ricard would acquire IDL and Jameson along side that. Jameson quickly grew to be their flagship brand and by 2016 it would take control of nearly 78% of Irish Whiskey US sales and 65% of worldwide sales.
Miriam Mooney, the head of the Irish Whiskey Association, said “Irish whiskey exports grew by 300% in the last ten years. We now sell into 135 countries around the globe, with the US being our number one export market. U.S. sales have increased from 5.2 million bottles of Irish whiskey in 2002 to 45.6 million bottles in 2015.” in 2015, American whiskey was at 44 million cases annually, just short of Irish whiskey.
Irish whiskey has such an intricate history and has come back from near obliteration. It has risen to become one of the fastest growing whiskey categories globally.