By Richard Thomas Rating: C Kilbeggan Irish Whiskey is named for the famed Kilbeggan Distillery, which dates back to 1757 and was revived by John Teeling and the Cooley Distillery in 2007. The distillery is so venerable that some point to it, and not Bushmills, as the oldest standing distillery in Ireland. Some observers rest their case for that on ...

By Richard Thomas Even among whiskey enthusiasts, surprisingly few know the name “Aeneas Coffey,” the Irish inventor who could be described as the Thomas Edison of the industry. Sometimes this is even the case when Coffey’s landmark contribution is referred to under his own name, and despite the fact that most of the world’s whiskey industry is heavily dependent upon ...

By Richard Thomas Coming hand in hand with booming Irish whiskey sales is the rapid expansion of new distilleries, both in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Yet amid all the new projects only one represents a true reversal of the mid-20th Century consolidation of the Irish whiskey industry, and that was the September launch of Tullamore Dew’s distillery. ...

By Richard Thomas Niche Drinks, the independent drinks company based in Derry County, Ireland, is set to introduce a new whiskey brand prior to breaking ground on what will become Derry’s first whiskey distillery in decades, according to the Derry Journal. Construction on the new distillery is set to begin in Campsie in summer 2015, with hopes of producing the ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B- The concept of “pot still whiskey” is often misunderstood outside of Ireland, with many thinking it refers to the still itself. Instead, “pot still” is a mashbill style stemming from one of the British crown’s attempts to collect more taxes from the Irish whiskey industry. Reckoning that the best way to collect taxes on whiskey ...