Irish Single Pot Still Whiskey Week will be hosted around Ireland from November 9 - 16.
Irish Single Pot Still Whiskey, unique to Ireland, is defined as a whiskey made in the one Irish distillery with a mix of malted and un-malted barley in a copper pot still.
Read More: How monks first brought whiskey to Ireland
After nearly being lost completely to the ravages of war and prohibition, Irish single pot still whiskey is back in the limelight. This style of whiskey is winning global whiskey competitions as Redbreast 12 Year Old just received the highest honor of World's Best Whiskey in this year's International Wine & Spirits Challenge.
Great Irish Beverages, wanting to honor the incredibly spicy, rich and robust liquid gold and its incredible legacy, has teamed up with its favorite single pot still brands for the very special festival, Irish Single Pot Still Whiskey Week November 9th - 16th.
This festival is about celebrating all the fantastic ways to enjoy single pot still Irish whiskeys whether served alongside a beer, paired with a food dish, mixed into a cocktail or of course simply neat!
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How to get your Irish venue involved:
Through the festival's whiskey partners, any venue across the Republic of Ireland will be allowed to participate. In doing so, the venue will receive its own page on the Great Irish Beverages website and be actively promoted by our team for being part of a brand new nationwide initiative showcasing the nation's most passionate Irish whiskey bars.
Venues can register for free on www.greatirishbeverages.com and must select an Irish pot still brand to work with and a serve to best represent the venue. The four serves to choose from are:
- A flight of pot still whiskeys
- A beer and pot still pairing,
- A pot still cocktail or
- A pot still and food pairing.
The brands involved in this year's festival are:
- Redbreast
- Green Spot
- Red Spot
- Yellow Spot
- Powers John's Lane
- Method & Madness
- Midleton Very Rare, Barry Crockett Legacy
Read More: Whiskey 101: How to properly taste Irish whiskey
Public vote:
When the festival starts, the public can vote for their favorite venue by using the hashtag #PotStillHero. The winning venue picks up a €1,000 prize and can nominate a registered charity to receive another €1,000.
Oisin Davis, director at Great Irish Beverages director, says: "Pot Still Irish whiskeys are now geographically protected and finally back to being revered around the world. This is great for Ireland. Pot Still whiskey could be what wines are for Burgundy or what malt whiskeys are for Scotland. But there is a lack of awareness around these remarkable spirits in Ireland. We want to address that and what better way than with a festival! We now have whiskey bars that also have fantastic food, beer collections, and cocktail menus. By showcasing these same venues through The Irish Single Pot Still Whiskey Week, it allows the public to broaden their spectrum of enjoyment of the whiskeys and learn more about what was for a long time, the most popular and celebrated whiskey in the world."
In addition to the venue campaign, there will also be festival tastings and events taking place around the country, details of which will be released through Great Irish Beverages social media.
What is Irish Single Pot Still Whiskey?
Ireland is the unique creator of Single Pot Still Whiskey, which dates back to the late 1600s.
They call the mix that makes up the whiskey ingredients ‘The Mash,' and for a Single Pot Still Whiskey, there must be a “mash bill” of both malted and unmalted barley. Some say this gives it that distinct spicy flavor.
Between new whiskey technology, prohibition, various wars including World War 1 and Ireland’s War of Independence, the whiskey industry declined to almost a standstill in Ireland. Where there were once hundreds of distilleries, by the 1960s, only three remained who joined forces.
In recent years, however, the distilleries are back creating what they know best and it's anticipated that within ten years' time, there will be new distilleries all over Ireland once again producing Irish single pot still whiskey.
Single Pot Still whiskey is Geographically Protected under a technical file created by the Irish Government in 2008 and filed with the European Commission. Ireland's initial membership with the EU states absolute protection overall Irish Whiskeys including Single Pot Still Whiskey.
Are you a fan Irish Single Pot Still Whiskey? Let us know in the comments!
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