Whiskey became more than just a home brew in 1608, when the world's first distillery license was given to Old Bushmills Distillery. Next came John Jameson & Son in 1780 and John Powers & Son in 1791. These licenses blew open the whiskey export trade in Ireland, and the world's love affair with Irish whiskey began. By the end of the 19th century, more than 400 brands were available in America alone.

The money stopped rolling in when Prohibition was introduced in the United States in 1919. Bootleggers began distributing lousy liquor under the respected name of Irish whiskey, destroying its reputation. Meanwhile, Ireland and England were engaged in an economic war and stopped buying each other's products completely. With Irish whiskey out of the picture, Scotch jumped in to fill the void. Only recently has Irish whiskey become internationally popular again. Irish whiskey has a distinctive smoothness, which results from triple-distillation (American whiskey is distilled only once and Scotch, twice).  Read more >>