Irish Whiskey

The word ‘whiskey’ was derived from the gaelic ‘uisce beatha’ meaning water of life, and apparently evolved into the term ‘whisky’ due to mispronunciation in King Henry II’s army in the 12th century – but this could’ve just been from them slurring their words after a sample.

The ‘e’ was added to ‘whisky’ to differentiate it from the blending of the spirit, which was becoming more popular in Scottish production. Irish distillers were so against the blending of whisky that they produced a book ‘Truths about Whisky’ which called for the banning of blended whisky. This provoked the spelling change to whiskey to identify a non-blended beverage.

Thankfully Irish whiskey is out of the dark times and part of a much welcome renaissance! Production has begun outside of the big three distilleries; Midleton, Cooley and Bushmills and certainly gaining momentum. With this boom, we are witnessing a lot of resurrected brands as well as new names popping up.

At The Sun Tavern we aim to stock the very best of such an eclectic category; we host the finest grain, malt and peated whiskeys along with the unique single pot still style on our shelves.