Rare Irish Whiskey Club

Rare Irish Whiskey Club is rated 3 out of 5 in the category food & beverages. Read and write reviews about Rare Irish Whiskey Club. China has seen an amazing boom in the whiskey market, with Scotch Whisky becoming the drink of choice for discerning drinkers, but being Irish and proud of it, and having struggled to find a good Irish Whiskey, we decided it was time the Chinese market discovered the best whiskey in the world, Irish! Who invented whiskey has long been debated between Scots and Irish, but it is now recognised to be the Irish. Whiskey is thought to have been produced as far back as the 3-400s, but the first written reference of whiskey in Ireland dates back to the year 1174, and the first reference in Scotland dating from 1494. Ireland also lays claim to the oldest distillery in the world, the Bushmills distillery in Northern Ireland, given a licence in 1608. The word whiskey comes from the anglicisation of the gaelic words "uisce beatha"​ meaning "water of life"​. There are two spellings of the word whiskey/whisky, with whiskey being used for the liquor produced in Ireland and America, and whisky for liquor produced anywhere else. That's why we use "whiskey"​ here! There are different requirements for something to be called whiskey, but the standards are that the spirit is aged for a minimum of 3 years in oak casks. The whiskey will be aged in a bourbon cask then finished in another cask such as sherry, madeira or port. The finishing process is what separates Irish Whiskey from other whiskies, and is one of the most important elements of the process. Different finishing casks result in different flavours. Another part of the process that affects the flavour of the whiskey is the mash used and the method of drying the malted barley. In Ireland the mash can be malted or a combination of malted and unmalted barley. In Scotland they generally use peat smoke to dry the malt, where is Ireland coal is usually used (with some exceptions) creating a smoother, less smokey or peaty flavour. So now you know more about Irish Whiskey, please get in touch and try some for yourself!