Both the Irish and the Scots claim to have invented whiskey?
My favourite whiskey is Black Bush by Bushmills, being Irish my self I'm a tad biased, my dad said once to me "Son if God had not let the Irish
invent whiskey they would have taken over the world"
After the dissolution of the monasteries in Scotland whiskey making became a peoples art. It was practised by ex-monks who became barbers, surgeons,
and apothem caries. Whiskey was taken to the great houses in the Highlands and
crofts. By the
16th century
triple distillation was common practise in the Western Isles, and had spread
to Ireland and France. By then “Uisge Beatha” ( Gaelic translation for “Aquae Vitae”) or “Water of life.” Was a central part of Highland
life.
The first legal distillery in the British Isles was in Northern Ireland, it was given to Sir Thomas Phillips ( Bushmills ) by James 1 of England, in
1608.
Stories tell us that the troops of
Henry II of England
paid a visit to Ireland in 1174; were more than happy to discover the unique taste of Irish whiskey. Unable to pronounce the Gaelic “Uisge
Beatha" they shortened it to “Fuisce” and finally to "Whiskey” Irish Whiskey held the high ground and was the worlds top selling Whiskey.
The arrival in Ireland of Scot
John Jameson in the 1770s marked a significant new departure for the
growing legal Irish whiskey industry. Jameson already had connections with the Scottish industry - he had even married into the
Haig family - and his son consolidated the business by marrying a daughter of John Stein, whose family were
among the biggest grain distillers in Scotland and who owned Dublin's Bow Street distillery which Jameson Senior was soon to purchase in 1780. with
a brother-in-law they became the first distiller to install a patent still.
Today there are only three distillers in Ireland I believe,
Midleton,
Bushmills, and
Cooley, 100 years before
there had been over 2000 in Ireland.
I will continue to drink my whiskey with a threat until I find an answer of who made it first.
Sauron
Whisky World
THE DIMPLE / THE PINCH / HAIG'S DIMPLE
THE ULTIMATE WHISKY LINK EXCHANGE
[edit on 25/6/2005 by Sauron]
. 
I love it . 
