Irish Pot Still Whiskey

Single pot still is the style that belongs to Ireland: made in a copper pot from a mash of both malted and unmalted barley, usually distilled three times, and required by law to mature at least three years on the island. The unmalted barley gives it a thicker, faintly oily texture that separates it from Scotch at the first mouthful. The industry nearly died in the twentieth century, shrinking to a couple of working distilleries, and has rebounded since the 1990s with dozens of new ones, most of them small. Cork, Dublin and Louth are the main clusters. Visitor centres are everywhere now, and the useful ones pour the pot still style beside a blend so you can taste the difference.

What you actually see

• The copper pot stills - the large single stills that define the style.
• Malted and unmalted barley - the mash bill that makes pot still what it is.
• Triple distillation - the usual Irish practice, and what it does to texture.
• The warehouse - rows of casks and the share lost to evaporation each year.

When to go

Year-round; distilling is indoor work and visitor centres run through the winter, when tours are smaller and guides have more time. Many distilleries pause production for maintenance in summer, so the stills may be cold exactly when the tours are busiest. Book tastings ahead at weekends, and settle on a driver first, because the two do not combine.

Honest expectations

A number of new distilleries sell whiskey they did not make while their own matures, and the tours do not always make that clear. The format repeats itself quickly: one is interesting, three in a weekend is a slog. Premium tastings are expensive for what ends up in the glass, and distillery shop prices are rarely better than in town.

Nearby

The Cork cluster lies east of the city; the Dublin distilleries are in the Liberties.