Irish Vodka

[ray]

hello: as we know, the Irish are famous for potatoes, so why dont we [the Irish] make vodka???? thank you

[Good Whiskey Hunting]

We do by the bucket load.
Huzzar is the best selling Irish vodka, but we also have Boru.

[DavidH]

It's not made from potatoes though. Ireland does seem to have a strong association with potatoes in the UK and the US so we should make some kind of spirit from spuds. Call it poitín though, rather than vodka.

[IainB]

I've tried a spirit made from spuds and to be honest it smelled of spuds. Wouldn't be in a rush to do it again.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Yes we do make vodka but it is not in our tradition as such, As mentioned Huzzar and Boru ...

Most spirits have a strong traditional and geographical association to them ...

Whiskey is ours and Scotland's first and fore most. Due to our close associations I think it is probably a joint culture rather than us over them or visa versa. We would have traditionally distilled from grain and distilling from potatoes would have been a later evolution with the humble spud not arriving in Europe till the 15/16th centuries so no idea when it was established in Ireland as a staple part of the diet but I'm guess that distilling was going on before the arrival of the potato. So the distillation of poitín and vodka in the east may well have started with grain and not the potato. However there are several vodkas on the market that are made from potato like Chase Vodka from the UK as well as several Polish Vodkas. Great if your celiac .

England you have Gin. Gin though may have originated in Holland but again a grain based clear spirit infused with herbs and spices.

A bit like the Nordic Countries have aquavit an in-between gin and whiskey as it is sometimes matured in cask.

and Vodka Poland/Russia.

Of course then you have big area where fruit distilled spirits are the norm which probably disects the Vodka and Whiskey territories.
Brandy/Cognac/Armagnac from France
Schnapps in the Germanic eastern Europe areas

But when you talk about history of distilling you could argue they were all doing the same thing but with local variations. As I don't think we can categorically say that Whiskey way back then was aged to any great extent and could well have been drunk as a pale spirit and possibly resembled more like vodka.

So make what you will of that ... just to confuse the whole issue

[Pudge72]

Yes we do make vodka but it is not in our tradition as such, As mentioned Huzzar and Boru ...

Most spirits have a strong traditional and geographical association to them ...

Whiskey is ours and Scotland's first and fore most. Due to our close associations I think it is probably a joint culture rather than us over them or visa versa. We would have traditionally distilled from grain and distilling from potatoes would have been a later evolution with the humble spud not arriving in Europe till the 15/16th centuries so no idea when it was established in Ireland as a staple part of the diet but I'm guess that distilling was going on before the arrival of the potato. So the distillation of poitín and vodka in the east may well have started with grain and not the potato. However there are several vodkas on the market that are made from potato like Chase Vodka from the UK as well as several Polish Vodkas. Great if your celiac .

England you have Gin. Gin though may have originated in Holland but again a grain based clear spirit infused with herbs and spices.

A bit like the Nordic Countries have aquavit an in-between gin and whiskey as it is sometimes matured in cask.

and Vodka Poland/Russia.

Of course then you have big area where fruit distilled spirits are the norm which probably disects the Vodka and Whiskey territories.
Brandy/Cognac/Armagnac from France
Schnapps in the Germanic eastern Europe areas

But when you talk about history of distilling you could argue they were all doing the same thing but with local variations. As I don't think we can categorically say that Whiskey way back then was aged to any great extent and could well have been drunk as a pale spirit and possibly resembled more like vodka.

So make what you will of that ... just to confuse the whole issue

...and then on this side of the Atlantic, immigration to the "New World" + geography (warmer/drier climate) + politics/economics (the insistence on the use of new American oak for casks) = bourbon. Thennnnn, politics again (Prohibition in the US) solidified Canada's place in the whiskey world (thank you Al Capone and others). All very interesting stuff!