History of Irish Whiskey Part 3: The Comeback

Irish whiskey was at a very low point in the mid-twentieth century. Ireland was still a largely rural and economically unsophisticated country. Virtually all of the whiskey distilleries had had closed, and many whiskey brands were forced to consolidate just to survive. Major names like Jameson and Bushmills were often the only Irish whiskey available in American bars. The scarcity of Irish whiskey in the USA had resulted in an entire generation that had virtually no contact with uisce beatha. However, just as a confluence of factors caused Irish whiskey’s decline, a number of events would help to bring it back from the brink.

The sixties, seventies, and eighties witnessed their share of historic and groundbreaking events in America. As far as the alcoholic drinks arena was concerned these decades were real low points. People didn’t much care what they drank at bars and restaurants, by and large. Hardly anyone knew to “swirl and sniff” their wine, micro-brew beer was unheard of, and it didn’t matter how many years the scotch was aged. In the nineties, the drinking landscape really began to change for the better. A gourmet culture in food kicked into high gear, ushering in the nascent era of the celebrity chef. Americans wanted good booze to go along with their new taste for good food. Interest in wine, both domestic and international, took off with people learning the basic differences between grape varietals. The craft beer movement started as a very minor business in previous decades, but now began to grab major attention. Micro-brews became popular alternatives to standards like Coors and Budweiser. The spirits world also came along for the ride.

Starting in the 1990s the average American was looking to trade up from the usual liquor offerings. The basic call brands were no longer satisfactory; people wanted more interesting options. The rise of nationally known cocktail historians and celebrity mixologists, like David Wondrich and Tony Abou-Ganim, sparked an interest in quality drinks made with quality ingredients. Bartending became an exciting profession again, not just a dead-end job of popping beer tops and making endless gin-and-tonics. Of course, the phenomenal popularity of the HBO show Sex in the City led to an explosion of Cosmo-sipping young women. The launch of Grey Goose vodka created the trend of premium vodka for the masses. Newly affluent young men were turning to high-end scotch and small batch bourbon. Americans were drinking and drinking well.

As the saying goes, a rising tide lifts all ships, and Irish whiskey was certainly lifted in the rising tide of America’s alcohol renaissance. The drink of kings had been relegated to gathering dust on the back bars of America’s Irish pubs. But Irish whiskey came back in America; drinkers wanted more options at the bar and Irish whiskey was no exception. An expansion of interest in Irish heritage by a newly ascendant Generation X helped fuel the demand in both Irish beer and whiskey. Fortunately, the “Celtic Tiger,” the rip-roaring Irish economy, could satisfy America’s demand for uisce beatha. Ireland turned a major corner in the 1990s, with a modernized economy pulling the country full force into the 20th century. The Irish whiskey business took off as well, with new distilleries being built, old labels being revived, and new brands hitting the marketplace. International spirits behemoth Pernod Ricard bought the Irish Distillers Group in 1988, which included Jameson. Other, similar partnerships put Irish whiskies in the position to gain an unprecedented position in the market.

For those who remember the bad old days, the days when you could barely find anything besides Jameson or Bushmills outside of a major metro market, were thrilled to suddenly have access to so many new brands of Irish. Old standards in Ireland became new players in America; labels like Tullamore Dew, Powers, and Paddy. The Cooley Distillery, the only Irish-owned distillery, has been making its own original, award-winning whiskies for almost two decades now. Irish whiskey is a small segment of the overall American liquor market, but it is growing at a remarkable pace. Fans of uisce beatha are thrilled that it has come back so strongly and we hope that it continues to surge ahead. Just like the Irish people, Irish whiskey has been to the greatest heights, fallen to the worst nadir, only to climb back and impress its warmth and charm on whiskey drinkers the world over. Slainte!


Questions? Comments? Suggestions? paddythepublican@gmail.com

A Brief History of Irish Whiskey: Part 2, The Decline

At the start of the 20th century, Irish whiskey was riding high. Uisce Beatha was enjoyed the world over by both the common man and the swell set. But just as Irish whiskey was taking its place in the upper echelon of the spirits world, a confluence of events was coming together to bring it crashing down.

Ireland’s hard and violent struggle for independence from Great Britain came to a head in the early 1900’s. Ireland finally achieved its freedom (mostly) from England in 1921. Most of Ireland, 26 out of 32 counties, became an autonomous, free state in December of 1921. The newly founded Republic of Ireland was met with punitive trade sanctions from its former master, England, immediately. Ireland’s export trade, including its whiskey exports, suffered greatly both from England’s reactionary trade policies and its own status as a newly developing country.
The passage of Prohibition in the United States in 1920 had a hugely deleterious effect on the international liquor trade in general, and the Irish whiskey business in particular. One of the biggest world markets for Irish whiskey went dry for 13 years. The sons and daughters of Eire who yearned for a taste of the ol’ uisce beatha in the USA had to content themselves with whatever could be run onto American shores by bootleggers.
Ireland’s economy, as well as its whiskey industry, suffered a series of setbacks throughout the first half of the 20th century. Ireland may have gotten free of British rule, but that also meant that the small, mostly rural country had to make its way in the international business scene with England actively thwarting its economic progress. The Irish whiskey business dropped off significantly; hundreds of distilleries closed, and only a few survived the culling.
The economic hardship of Ireland led to Irish whiskey becoming severely marginalized in what used to be its largest export market, the USA. After decades of hardship: Prohibition, the Great Depression, World War 2, Americans were ready to live the good life. After the end of WW2, Americans indeed lived it up, sparking a tremendous period of economic growth and prosperity. The booze business boomed after years of lean times. But Irish whiskey was left on the sidelines as Americans took to homemade Bourbon, easily accessible Canadian whiskey, and the Scotch that they picked up a taste for as GIs in the England. Whiskey was big in mid-20th century America, everything but Irish whiskey, anyway. Names like: Jack Daniels, Canadian Club, and Johnny Walker became the standard whiskey calls at bars across America, while names like Jameson and Powers were lucky to be an afterthought. A nation with millions of Irish immigrants and children of Irish immigrants could hardly get their hands of the whiskey of their ancestry.
Every type of alcoholic beverage had its shining moment in America at some point during the post WW2 era. Beer, wine, vodka, rum, scotch, bourbon, gin, and tequila all had their moments in the sun sometime between 1950 and 1990. But Irish whiskey was left out of the party. While choices abounded for enthusiasts of, say, Italian wine or Scotch, Irish whiskey was basically a choice between Jameson or Bushmills for most of the later 1900s. Getting a good dram of uisce beatha in the USA prior to 2000 required knowledge, patience, and dedication. But the Irish are not only used to hardship, they thrive on it, so it was only a matter of time before the many curses that plagued that Irish whiskey business were lifted. Irish Whiskey followed the script for Celtic existence; get beaten to a pulp and pushed to within an inch of extinction before roaring back and becoming everyone’s favorite underdog hero.

Question? Comments? Suggestions? paddythepublican@gmail.com