Powers Three Swallow Irish Whiskey. I hear Irish whiskey is one of the fastest growing spirit categories these days. It’s a modern revival, as throughout much of history up until the early 20th century (when its drastic decline began), Irish was actually the leading whiskey style worldwide.

The Three Swallow expression takes creative inspiration to recreate what Irish whiskey might have tasted like a couple centuries ago during its heyday. I mean, I can’t validate or refute that, but I’ll say that this is pretty delish. It’s light, fruity, and has some nice recognizable sherry influence. It comes across slightly hot (esp compared to the John’s Lane 12 year), but no doubt is perfect for cocktails. Given the popularity of Irish whiskey during the 19th century, it is called for in many pre-Prohibition cocktails, and it’s exciting to see the growth of options to more closely approximate those beloved classics.

One of the key subcategories in Irish whiskey is the “single pot still” distinction. Pot stills were the original style of stills used to make spirits, until the invention of the column (Coffey) still in the early 1800s revolutionized the spirits world. This new column still was more efficient than pot stills and gained popularity worldwide, as its usage was adopted for whiskies, rums, brandies, gins, and more. However, Irish whiskey producers did not jump on the Coffey still train, as the new still generally produced a lighter style that didn’t resonate with many Irish producers at the time.

As Irish whiskey’s popularity diminished through the 1900s, so did the availability of pot still Irish whiskies in favor of blended options. Today, with this new resurgence, we’re fortunate to see more pot still whiskies come to market!

Click here for recipes with Irish whiskey!

*received as sample