Whiskey by Maurice Walsh

[cathach]

I came across a curio there that some here may be interested in. It's a piece written in a conversational style about Irish whiskey in The Bell which as some may know was a high-tone Dublin literary magazine (1939-1955ish) back in the day. It's interesting as well as the author refers to himself as having been a retired exciseman who worked in the Highlands and in England pre-Independence, and includes his comments on Scotch and also on some whiskies he tasted that no longer exist e.g. Persse's Galway, Marrowbone Lane's 'Diamond J'.
It's not on-line and the magazine itself hasn't been reprinted and copies are hard to come by so if you're interested let me know and you can have a photocopy of it.


'Whiskey' by Maurice Walsh in The Bell August 1941.

[TheWhiskeyBro]

Cathach,

I'd love a copy for my ongoing research, can you bring a copy next thursday if your coming along,

Cheers Leo

[cathach]

No problem, I'll get something to ye in Dublin. The Maurice Walsh character seems to have been very interesting, and I'd love to find out more about him. He also gives out about modern mass-produced lagers and how the breweries with tied houses have killed English ale.

Micheál

[TheWhiskeyBro]

Hi there cathach,

If you give a copy to IrishWhiskeyChaser, he can pass it on to me,

Cheers Leo

[DavidH]

I could scan it, if nobody else has such a device.

Is this the same Maurice Walsh who wrote Blackcock's Feather? I read that book in school.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Received a couple copies of this from Catach Yesterday. Thank you kind Sir. And I'll copy and distribute when I'm up next.

A nice read and the Author is complaining about so of the same issues in 1941 that we do today. Lack of choice for higher vol and more exciting expressions.

It is also interesting to observe the state of Whiskey through the memory of the Author.

I have a feeling it may be the same Maurice Walsh that wrote the quite man as it is around the same era. Anway sure are not all Authors whiskey drinkers

Anyway he was really in to Quality over quantity. And appears to have appreciated the real Scotch(Single Malts) as well as Irish but lamented the falling standards in the Whisk(e)y industry in general.

A few interesting quotes with out giving the whole story away

'The old Irish Double or Treble distilled their spirits'

'... we Irish call it whiskey after five years, but it is not the real article until 7years. And even then it is not finished. At ten years it is prime, at twelve it is about it's best, though some whiskies, notably heavy Scotch malts, go on maturing and improving fifteen to twenty years.'

'... If you get used to a drink you lose appreciation of it's fine qualities and take it for the sake of the Kick. That's drunkness. Given a goodly number of good whiskies and a palate (akin to the wine drinker's) to savour them, few men will take whiskey to get plain drunk on'

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

.... It's interesting as well as the author refers to himself as having been a retired exciseman who worked in the Highlands and in England pre-Independence....

'Whiskey' by Maurice Walsh in The Bell August 1941.

Hi Cathah,

I have a feeling that there is a fairly long quote from Neil M Gunn's book 'Whisky and Scotland' (Half way down Page 18 to 2/3rds down on page 20) and the 'We Excise Officers ... ' is actually refering to Gunn.

Not very obvious but that is how I read it. Gunn was a Customs and Excise Officer before becoming a very prolific author on Whisky and fiction.

[cathach]

It could indeed be the same man who wrote Blackcock's Feather and The Quiet Man, as the dates do fit 1879-1964, but I don't possess the relevant knowledge.

Unlike modern practice his quotes are not very separated from the text as Adrian has pointed out. Cheers for that by the way, else I should have spent weeks blethering on about a non-existant treatise by a pre-Independance exciseman!!

He makes a couple of slips i.e. he says the blending in Irish whiskey is done before the distillation (the mixing of malt and unmalted barley) but the state of his knowledge is remarkable at the time. Let's not forget that very, very few people know what a single malt is, let alone a Pure Pot Still, and the proportion amongst the general population must have been even lower then.

I look forward to hearing a few more comments on it, it's a lovely readable piece.

P.S. I'll send copies to those whose addresses I have e.g. David, JC

[jcskinner]

That would be very appreciated, Cathach.

[DavidH]

P.S. I'll send copies to those whose addresses I have e.g. David, JC

That's very kind of you, cathach. I'll send you back a scanned version, in return.

[cathach]

Has the postman been to any of ye at all? I sent it out a couple of days ago anyway so I hope you'll have it soon, next-day delivery how are ya!!

[DavidH]

I have received my copy, and captured it in electronic form. Many thanks, cathach!

To resolve (or add to) the controversy above, a careful reading of the text reveals that Walsh does indeed out himself as a former Excise officer. This is supported by Wikipedia's article on the man.