Single pot still whiskey is a style of Irish whiskey made by a single distillery from a mixed mash of malted and unmalted barley distilled in a pot still. Somewhat similar to single malt whiskey, the style is defined by its inclusion of unmalted raw barley in the mash in addition to malt. However, small amounts of raw oats or wheat may have been used at times. This unmalted component is said to give the pot still whiskey a "spicier bristle" and "thicker texture" than the otherwise similar malt whiskeys. If the whiskey is not distilled completely on the site of a single distillery, then it may be termed pot still whiskey but not single pot still whiskey.
Single pot still whiskey
A bottle of Redbreast 12 Year Old, bearing the older description "Pure pot still". Newer bottles are labelled "Single pot still".
Irish whiskey is whiskey made on the island of Ireland. The word 'whiskey' comes from the Irish uisce beatha, meaning water of life. Irish whiskey was once the most popular spirit in the world, though a long period of decline from the late 19th century onwards greatly damaged the industry, so much so that although Ireland boasted at least 28 distilleries in the 1890s, by 1966 this number had fallen to just two, and by 1972 the remaining distilleries, Bushmills Distillery and Old Midleton Distillery, were owned by just one company, Irish Distillers.
Three Irish whiskeys: Knappogue Castle, Jameson, and Bushmills
Erskine Nicol – A Nip Against the Cold – An Irishman pouring whiskey 1869. Part of Erskine Nicol Irish collection, painting of Irish life.
The Old Midleton Distillery, built in 1825, hosts a mammoth 31,618 gallon Pot still, so big that the still room needed to be built around it. Although no longer in use, it remains in place inside the old distillery building.
Jameson's Bow Street distillery pictured in Alfred Barnard's 1887 report on the distilleries of Britain and Ireland
