23 APR 2018: On my first visit to the Republic of Ireland a couple of decades ago, there were only three Irish whiskey brands generally consumed. People drank Powers, Paddy and for a treat Jameson. How far things have progressed is well illustrated by the Jasmine Bar at Brooks Hotel in Dublin. Ireland’s first “Great Whiskey Bar of the World” has over 140 whiskies, 84 of them Irish. It was a fitting place to start my ‘wet the whistle’ tour.

Head bartender Jacek Rogowski who’s been at the hotel for nearing ten years, took me through a five-whiskey tasting flight tailored to show me the diversity of Irish spirits. As I sipped through Greenspot Single Pot Still, Teeling Single Malt, Midleton Very Rare, Jameson 18 Year Old and Connemara 12 Year Old, he gave me the background on the products and producers.

In 2013 there were just four distilleries in operation, none of them in Dublin. Now there are 16 and a further 14 in the pipeline. Whiskey is indeed flowing in Ireland. Bartender Rogowski estimates that there are now about 35 places in Dublin that have now been designated a “Great Whiskey Bar of the World” by Whisky Magazine.

I also learned that within walking distance of my hotel in the heart of Dublin City Centre, was the historic Liberties, the location of Dublin’s three current distilleries: Pearse Lyons (in a converted church, the former St James’s), Teeling and Jameson. All offer tours and tastings.

The Teeling Distillery, which opened in 2015, was the first new distillery in Dublin in 125 years. It had 60,000 visitors in its first year. The Old Jameson Distillery on Bow Street off Smithfield Square reopened in March 2017 after a six-month’s closure for multi-million dollar refurbishment. (Visitor numbers had reached almost 300,000 in the year before the closure.)

Jameson, founded in 1780, was Ireland’s most famous distillery for nearly 200 years, until its closure in 1971, when distilling of Jameson Irish Whiskey was transferred to the Midleton Distillery.  For many years the Bow Street Distillery lay abandoned, but today, once again, it is buzzing with activity (there’s also a restaurant and gift shop on site but no actual distilling).

Pearse Lyons Distillery is the brainchild of Pearse and Deirdre Lyons. Pearse Lyons, who comes from five generations of coopers, was the first Irishman to receive a formal degree in brewing and distilling from the British School of Malting and Brewing. The distillery’s building can be traced back to 1190 when it was part of St Thomas’s Abbey, founded by King Henry II as his penance for the murder of Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket.

Doors are scheduled to open in September for the Dublin Liberties Distillery in Mill Street, a 300-year-old former mill and tannery that is being converted and upgraded into a distillery for the Dubliner Irish Whiskies.

Diageo, owners of Guinness, are also adding a distillery in the Liberties, in the former Guinness Power House on James’s Street, a redbrick Victorian style building. Situated just a stone throw away from where the George Roe and Co distillery once stood, it will be called Roe’s Distillery in honour of whiskey maker George Roe, who is credited with bringing about the golden era of Irish whiskey in the 19th century. Whiskey production is planned to begin in the first half of 2019 and there will be a visitor experience.

Diageo already draws about 1.6 million visitors into the area annually to visit the newly renovated Guinness Storehouse. Set on 53 acres, the seven story high building has a panoramic view of the city from its penthouse Gravity Bar with its floor to ceiling windows. Over three million pints of beer are made daily at the brewery on premises. Tours are informative in a fun way and can include learning how to pour the perfect pint as well as beer and food pairings.

About 90 minutes south of Dublin is Walsh Whiskey Distillery at Royal Oak. Set deep in the heart of the barley basket of Ireland, the place has a Canadian connection – former Prime Minister Mulroney’s family came from the village of Royal Oak. Home of the brands ‘Writers’ Tears’ and ‘The Irishman’, visitors started arriving as soon as they opened in 2016.

Three types of one-hour tours are offered – basically one pays more to taste more quantity and more premium whiskies. If you pick the Connoisseurs Choice tour, you can sip on super-premium The Irishman Cask Strength, Writers’ Tears Cask Strength and The Irishman 17 Year Old Single Cask.

On the property is a 1755 mansion featured in the book, “Abandoned Mansions of Ireland” which Bernard and Rosemary Walsh are having slowing and carefully restored. They hope it will eventually be their visitor’s centre and restaurant.

About twenty minutes’ drive from Walsh Distillery is Kilkenny, once the medieval capital of Ireland. Strongbow, the legendary Norman invader built a fort in the 12th century where the Kilkenny Castle stands today. At the heart of the city’s ‘Medieval Mile’ is the Smithwick’s Experience on the site where Smithwick’s beer used to be brewed.

The tour is done with holograms, videos, ‘talking pictures’, wafting smells, and all kinds of multimedia. It’s extremely well done and of course ends in a tasting of brews.

I stayed at the Pembroke Kilkenny hotel with a view of the castle from my window. The hotel, a member of the Manor Houses of Ireland (soon to be re-launched as Irish Original Hotels), was constructed on the site of a former garage where the Statham-Ford-Special racing cars were built. The hotel’s bar thus has an historic racing car theme and as I found out, sensational cocktails curated by renown Irish mixologist Darren Geraghty. The Golden Touch cocktail features local Glendalough wild botanical gin frothed up with egg white and lemon, raspberry and passion fruit.

All this drinking works up the appetite. Next column I’ll talk about the Ireland’s culinary side.