The word "whiskey" comes from the ancient Gaelic term "uisce beatha" which translates as "water of life". The world's oldest Whiskey distillery still in operation is the Bushmills distillery in Ireland, which was founded in 1608. This is no surprise, as there were as many as 1200 distilleries in Ireland in the 18th century, the majority being unlicenced. The numbers of distilleries decreased gradually, to reach a number of 90 in the 19th century. Today, there is 3 istilleries in Ireland: the Cooley distillery in Co.Louth, the Bushmills distillery in Co.Antrim and the Midleton dstillery in Co.Cork.

There are several types of Irish Whiskey: Single Malt, Single Grain, Pure Pot Still and Blended Whiskey. Most of the Irish Whiskeys are distilled three times, compared to the Scotch Whiskies which are distilled twice. Peat is not often used in the malting process, and as a result the Irish Whiskeys has a smoother finish when compared  to the smokey and earthy overtones common most Scotch Whiskies.

While in our Grafon Street store you will find our full range of Irish Whiskeys, we have selected some of our favourite whiskeys for our online catalogue.