LuxeBook May 2022

It’s called Writers’ Tears. The name jumps out at me from the whiskey section of the menu at Hairy Lemon, a green and yellow pub in Dublin’s popular Temple Bar district. As a writer who has shed tears, particularly when a stressful deadline is coming up, it makes sense I try the whiskey! The single pot, triple distilled drink has spicy notes and a lingering finish. Later, I learn more about this whiskey. Created by Walsh Whiskey in Dublin itself, Writers’ Tears is a tribute to the golden age — 19th and early 20th century — of Irish whiskey and, Irish literature. It is said that many an Irish scribe found solace and even inspiration in a dram of whiskey, and when they cried, it was tears of whiskey. It’s my maiden visit to the Republic of Ireland and I am on a mission to try as many whiskies as I can in a country known for producing some of the best in the world. It makes sense to start that journey in the capital, Dublin. It’s a city that has witnessed the golden age of whiskey-making, its subsequent fall and now, its revival. Every drop of whiskey comes with a story. It begins with history. It is widely believed that whiskey originated in Ireland, created by monks who learned the art of distillation from perfume makers in the Mediterranean. The first written record of whiskey comes from 1405 in the Annals of Clonmacnoise — it talks about the head of a clan dying from a ‘surfeit of aqua vitae ’ (meaning water of life). The Gaelic name was uisce beatha (pronounced ishka baha), which got anglicised into ‘whiskey’. In the second room, which resembles a rough distillery, Hanna talks about shebeens (private liquor houses), backyard distillers and the rise of Irish moonshine or poteen. Here I learn about the origin of the Irish wake. In those days, people who drank too much methylated spirit or were struck by unknown diseases would appear dead, so the three-day funeral was a chance to ‘wake’ them up. It was three days of drinking and merriment; making a racket that could wake up the dead. “We don’t just drink. We drink like we are trying to wake the dead,” he quips. In this room, he talks about how whiskey making evolved — as barrels were taxed, people start hiding them underground, unearthing them after years to find that the poteen tasted better; and when malted barley was taxed, they started using un-malted barley. Seated in a Victorian bar, Hanna takes us through the 1800s when Ireland was the capital of the whiskey world, and Dublin its centre. Records show there were 88 licensed distilleries in and around which captured the market share dedicated to Irish whiskey. Disaster struck in the early 20th century. The First World War, the Irish War of Independence and Prohibition in the United States and the rise of Scotch whisky had a significant impact on the industry. Without access to two major markets, production went into decline. The surviving distilleries — Jameson, Cork and Powers — joined forces to create Irish Distillers Group, and moved production to Midleton, County Cork; Bushmills It’s the first thing I learn at Irish Whiskey Museum, a fascinating place full of whiskey memorabilia, a collection of whiskey labels and advertisements, and a fully functioning bar. As part of a tour, my guide Paddy Hanna walks me through the Irish whiskey story, over two hours and across four rooms. Sitting in the first room, built like the inside of a church, I am told about the monks brewing ‘fire water’ and their first experiments with copper alembic stills. the island, (and possibly hundreds of unlicensed). In those Victorian times, ‘the big four’ ruled whiskey production — George Roe, John Power, John Jameson and William Jameson — and they were based in Dublin. They made whiskey in pot stills and used a mix of unmalted and malted barley. In addition, the patent of the Coffey still by Aeneas Coffey meant quicker output and was cheaper than the pot still. His invention was bought by English and Scottish whiskey distillers who started producing blended whiskey, Dublin, Irish Whiskey Museum Courtesy: Brian Morrison Pearse Lyons Whiskey Distillery Courtesy: Donal Murphy Dublin, Irish Whiskey Museum Courtesy: Brian Morrison Jameson Distillery Courtesy: Irish Distillers International Limited Dublin, Irish Whiskey Museum Courtesy: Brian Morrison 20| L U X E B O O K | M AY 2 0 2 2 M AY 2 0 2 2 | L U X E B O O K | 21