All About Irish Whiskey By Alan Sutton Aug 12, 2012 Queen Elizabeth 1st enjoyed Irish whiskey. It is said that she had casks of Irish whiskey transported to London and stored in the palace. By the 18 century Ireland had roughly 2000 stills in operation making Irish whiskey. At present there are only 4 distilleries in operations: Cooley, Kilbeggan, New Midleton and Old Bushmills. January 2012 Beam Inc., creators of Jim Beam and Maker's Mark, bought Cooley Distillery, the last independently Irish owned distillery. Regulations for producing Irish whiskey are determined by the "Irish Whiskey Act, 1980." This superceded the previous act of 1950. When compared to the requirements to make Bourbon and Scotch, Irish whiskey is much simpler. The Irish Whiskey Act of 1980 says that to be labeled Irish whiskey it has to be produced according to the following requirements: 1) …show more content…
3) spirits comprising a blend of two or more distillates are referred to as a "blended" Irish whiskey and must meet requirements one and two. Styles of Irish Whiskey include blended, single grain and single malt. Blended whiskey accounts for a majority of Irish whiskey being produced today. Blended Irish whiskey can be composed of whiskey from multiple distillate as well as more than one distillery as long as it adheres to the policies defined in the Irish Whiskey Act of 1980. Some examples of Blended whiskies include: Bushmills Original, Jameson, Kilbeggan, Clontarf, Inishowen and Paddy to mention a few. To dive a little further into the process, Jameson is created from a mash of malted and un-malted barley. It will then be triple distilled in pot stills and aged in oak casks. To create the final product a mix of triple distilled whiskey and neutral spirits are paired in just the right proportions to make Jameson what it has always been and will continue to