Foremost, Irish pot distilled whiskey is defined by its mash bills, using malted and unmalted barley with a combination of other grains such as oats, rye, and wheat. This practice likely started with Ireland’s first distillers mashing obtainable grains from the 14th century. Mashing mixed cereals became the custom after the March 1785 Malt Tax which levied seven pence per bushel on malted grain, forcing Irish distillers to limit malt mashes to minimise duty until the tax was repealed in September 1880.
After a century of adapting to cost-saving mixed cereal mashes and international demand for Ireland’s fruitier, lighter-flavoured, creamy-tasting whiskies, most pot still distilleries settled into these established production methods. The British Society of Chemical Engineers in 1891 stated, “The main distinction between Scotch and Irish whisky was that the former was made solely from malted barley.” Restrictive English laws also impacted pot still design in
