Irish whiskies

Irish whiskey has long been overshadowed by Scotch whisky, yet there is a suggestion that the Irish actually got there first. Moreover, Bushmills distillery in Northern Ireland is the oldest licensed distillery in the world, starting in 1608. Either way, Irish whiskey has a huge heritage and a style that is distinctive from Scotch by virtue of typically being triple-distilled rather than double, using a mixture of malted and unmalted barley for its pot-still whiskies, and generally using little peat.

Irish whiskey making was long dominated by Irish Distillers, with their big 4 brands of Jameson, Bushmills, Paddy and Powers (plus smaller brands like the excellent Redbreast). Following the arrival of Cooley Distillery in 1987, making the double-distilled, peated single malt Connemara, amongst others, Irish whiskey has undergone a renaissance. New distilleries have emerged, including the arrival of Teeling in 2015, which returned distilling to Dublin, and even Diageo has got in on the act, with the establishment of Roe & Co. There's plenty to discover in Irish whiskey and you'll find our full selection here. You can explore sub-categories using the navigation on the left, to see our ranges of Blended Irish, Pot-Still, Single Malt & Single Grain, and even Ireland's answer to moonshine, Poitín.