Whiskey and Dublin

Although many people now associate Scotland and scotch with whiskey, it was in fact Ireland who produced up to 70 percent of the worlds whiskey less than a century ago. They were the nation of whiskey makers and there were reputed to be hundreds of distilleries across Ireland. Some were very small family companies whilst others were much larger and more significant producers.

During this time the largest part of the country's production was exported, primarily to the USA and mainland Britain. There were many different names, almost all of which have now disappeared, and many different whiskeys, all of which have met with the same fate.

The death of Ireland's whiskey industry

Ireland's whiskey industry died a very quick and sudden death as a result of two crushing political events, neither of which the industry had any influence over. Between these two events the manufacture of whiskey in Ireland was brought to a near complete halt and unfortunately it would never recover its past global domination. Today only four whiskey producers survive.

Perhaps the most significant of these two incidents was the introduction of prohibition laws in the United States of America. These regulations were introduced in 1920 and they remained in place all the way through to 1933, a period of over 13 years. The effect of prohibition was to ban (make illegal) the manufacture, transport and sale of any form of alcohol. In effect every alcoholic spirit, except those used for religious or medical, needs were banned. Naturally all imports (including those from Ireland) were prohibited.

In one foul swoop Ireland's biggest whiskey export market was shut down. Somewhere close to 75 percent of the countries whiskey went to the USA and it was terminated overnight, a terrible financial blow.

The other big whiskey export market was the UK and primarily England, however this market too was to disappear, at least for the Irish producers.

Ireland, or the southern provinces, had long campaigned for independence and the establishment of the country as a self determining state, separate and unconnected to the rest of the British Isles. When this eventually happened a number of things changed, one of which was that Ireland, no longer being part of Britain, was now subject to numerous import tariffs. The result of these tariffs and other punitive measures (some reputedly intended as a punishment) were that realistically Ireland could no longer export whiskey to England. To make matters worse these measure took effect around 1921 to 1922, in other words at the same time that prohibition was enforced into law.

Not surprisingly the results of prohibition and the British imposed alcohol tariffs brought the Irish whiskey producers' exports to a complete halt. Within months the industry was dead and even though prohibition was lifted in 1933, and the restrictive British tariffs were phased out, it was too late for Ireland's whiskey industry. Today only four producers continue and of these it is perhaps only John Jameson and Son who retain an fully international status.

Disastrous events for the Irish whiskey producers were however the catalyst for the then much smaller Scottish whiskey producers to expand. In the early part of the twentieth century they exported little to the USA, so the impact of prohibition was negligible. Then, with Irish independence, they saw an opportunity to expand further into England and when prohibition laws were repealed in the USA they stepped in and became the whiskey producing force that they are today.