The Whisky Atlas

Ireland

The pot-still tradition

Where whiskey began, by most tellings — triple distillation, unmalted barley, and a modern renaissance rebuilding a once-vast industry.

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Regions

Ireland

Single pot still and the new wave

Irish whiskey's signature is the single pot still style — malted and unmalted barley together, triple-distilled to a spicy, creamy smoothness found nowhere else. A century ago Ireland dominated world whiskey; wars, prohibition and politics reduced it to a handful of distilleries. The revival since the 2010s has been spectacular: from four distilleries to more than forty, rebuilding regional character bottle by bottle.

10 distilleries