The Gold of the Irish

The Irish claim that they invented whiskey. Today the whiskey production is mainly in French hands. Although privately destilling whiskey has been illegal since the year 1760, this did not really stop any of the private destillers

Whiskey – such an elevated word. It brings to mind images of gentlemen in tweed jackets, the smell of burning peat and pipe smoke – or alcohol poisoning. My relationship to whiskey began quite dramatically. At the time, I was 17 and had invited the Latin teacher and the whole class to my housewarming party.

My classmates poured me one whiskey after another, claiming that it was a refreshment with a low alcohol content. Since I had never before tried even a drop of alcohol, I didn’t know the difference. 18 hours later I woke up in the emergency room.

A friend later gave me a copy of a book by Malachy Magee, a whiskey historian – if there even is such an occupation. In the preface he writes that „whiskey is a gift of nature“, that it is „an elixir that can do good in many ways if one drinks it in a measured way and with the respect that is owed it. Misusing these amazing drops by excessive lack of restraint can, on the other hand, be a regrettable exercise in self-punishment.“

The man is right. The name of the high-proof drink stems from an old Gaelic word: „Uisce Beatha“, meaning spirits. In the 12th century, the soldiers of Henry II, the king of England, occupied Ireland. Because they could not pronounce the Gaelic word, they turned it into whiskey.

Irish whiskey – from time to time it used to be written like Scottish whisky, without an „e“ – has been around for more than a thousand years. The Irish are proud to have invented it, even if the Scots claim this cultural achievement as their own. Irish whiskey dominated the US market up to the time of the Prohibition. During the alcohol ban from 1920 to 1933 many Americans illegally distilled whiskey and gave it pleasant-sounding Irish names. But the poor quality of the illegal brew ruined the reputation of Irish whiskey. After the Prohibition had been abolished, Scotch whisky conquered the US market, because, at the time, it was cheaper to produce. The Scots mainly distill their whisky only twice and mix it with a cheap corn whisky. To better market themselves the Irish whiskey distillers merged in 1965 under the name „Irish Distillers Group“, but initially without the North Irish Bushmills distillery that joined in 1973. This was of little use. Today all but one distillery are in French hands.

It used to be the case that every second family in the country distilled their own whiskey. In the mid 19th century in Dublin there were almost 2.000 pubs. In 1906 James Joyce wrote: „Dubliners are the most hopeless, useless and inconsistent race of charlatans I have ever come across, on the island or the continent. This is why the English Parliament is full of the greatest windbags in the world. The Dubliner passes his time gabbing and making the rounds of bars or taverns or cathouses, without ever getting ‚fed up‘ with the double doses of whiskey and Home Rule, and at night, when he can hold no more and is swollen like a toad, he staggers from the side-door and, guided by an instinctive desire for stability along the straight walls of houses, he goes slithering his backside against all walls and corners. He goes ‚arsing along‘ as we say in English. There’s the Dubliner for you.“ Privately distilling liquor has already been illegal since 1760, but the law did not stop anything: Distilling continued. A large portion of the Irish population became criminals overnight. But, at the same time, making it illegal had its consequences.

150 years ago the liquor dealer Walter Thomas Meyler wrote that thousands of Irish had to flee their creditors and thus the island. Many small farmers could only pay their lease because they earned an additional something from illegally distilling alcohol. The illegal whiskey was called „Poitín“. The stuff was supposed „to kill meat worms, drive away melancholy, set off gas and stop aging“. In 1892, the Catholic church declared the illegal distillation of alcohol a cardinal sin, but the heavenly ban did just as little as the earthly one. In 1962, Brendan Behan who later became a famous dramatist wrote: „Poteen means death. It’s the end, you can believe me, because I have a lot of experience with it.“ That’s true: two years later he drunk himself to death.

RALF SOTSCHECK

Übersetzt von CATHY LARA