You’ve almost certainly enjoyed Irish blended whiskey in your life, as most of the biggest Irish whiskeys, including Jameson, Tullamore DEW, Bushmills Black Bush, Paddy’s, Proper No. Twelve, and Power’s are blended Irish whiskeys.
While Scotch whisky blenders work with single malt and grain whisky, Irish master blenders have another spirit at their disposal: single pot still. This whiskey, made from malted and unmalted barley, is unique to Ireland. This makes Irish blended whiskey a marriage of single pot still and/or single malt with grain whiskey. How these components are balanced is down to the skill of the master blender, like Midleton’s Billy Leighton, who must consider cask selection, stock management, and the profile they want to create.
Much like in Scotch whisky, blended whiskey accounts for the vast majority of Irish whiskey production with the mega-brand Jameson dominating world sales year-on-year. The Irish whiskey industry wasn’t as quick to embrace the style as their Celtic counterparts, historically being more pot still purists in the first great age of blended whisky in the late 19th century.
It was an Irishman, Aeneas Coffey, who, in the 1830s, patented the Coffey still, which allowed for a more efficient and consistent distillation process and in turn boosted the growth of grain whisky. While it wasn’t as highly regarded as malt whisky, when blended it became a crucial component. The art of blending owes a lot to the Irish, and there can be no doubt today that they have mastered the art.