By John Callely / January 19th 2025
We are delighted to contribute from time to time to Tourism Ireland News Releases created for journalists and media in the US who are looking for new Irish tourism ideas to investigate and write about. One thing is for sure – Irish whiskey tourism is still quite new! Our latest contribution below.
The first records of whiskey distilling in the world date back to 1324. These records relate to Irish whiskey and are found in the Red Book of Ossory , written in County Kilkenny in Ireland’s Ancient East. That means the Irish invented whiskey! Although our friends in Scotland claim their records are more accurate and therefore they claim they invented whisky (no ‘e’ in Scotland). That debate will continue for some time yet, what we do know for certain however is that Irish whiskey was the biggest selling whiskey in the world in late 18th century and throughout the 19th century. The hub for Irish whiskey was the Liberties neighbourhood in Dublin.
This area is quite residential today, but back in the Victorian era, it was filled with distilleries and breweries, including the Guinness Brewery which is still operating in the Liberties today on 64 acres. A variety of challenges cropped up in the early 1900s, the big challenge being the failure of Irish distilleries to properly adopt new quicker , cheaper ways of making whiskey.
These new technologies were warmly embraced by the Scots and Scotch whisky conquered the world. By 1976 , we had just one distillery left in the Liberties, and they closed this year – distilling disappears from this neighbourhood completely and Irish whiskey sits on shelves in bars around the world gathering dust. However, the few distilleries left in Ireland do not give up – they merge and they start to rebuild the category. By the early noughties, Irish whiskey is on fire around the globe and it becomes the fastest growing premium spirit in the world. Today, distilleries are popping up in the Liberties again, there are five distilleries in operation. Whiskey Island has a daily tour that celebrates this Renaissance of our national drink in Dublin, we operate this tour privately for small groups, includes hotel pick up and transportation. We share this story of Irish whiskey through the ages, visiting some of the old remnants of the golden era of Irish whiskey making in the Liberties followed by a private sampling trail of three small batch distilleries. It’s a Dublin city tour with whiskey in its heart!
To see the article on Tourism Ireland’s website , click THE DUBLIN WHISKEY STORY
