Question - Irish Whiskey Preferences by County

[kellardt]

All,

I am an editor working on a collection of short stories with an Irish theme. One of the writers singled out Powers as the drink of choice in County Westmeath in his story. As we want accuracy, even though these are works of fiction, I was wondering if anyone knows what the whiskey preferences are (by and large) in Irish counties, esp. pre-World War II.

If anyone has ANY info on Irish Whiskey preferences in ANY counties, I can always extrapolate from there.

Thanks to all!

Kellard


Edit from Admin: Moved from Society to Whiskey Forum. Thanks for posting though interesting question.

[Good Whiskey Hunting]

Hi Kellard,welcome to the forum.
I'm from Wexford. I also work in a bar.
The current favourite is Jameson. You would find that nationally i would assume.
Historically Power & Son would have been the favourite. The reason for this is that the Power family lived in Edermine house near Enniscorthy. They also built the village of Oilgate for their workers. A large number of people from the village went on to work for the family in their distillery in Dublin.
Powers would still be favoured by older people. It is also the Whiskey of choice for Hot Whiskeys.

[TheWhiskeyBro]

As far as I know Jameson ahas only overtaken Powers as the no. 1 whiskey in Ireand in the last 10 or 15 years.

Powers as always been the more popular whiskey in Ireland generally.

Powers was the first distillery in Ireland to do 'own bottlings' in the 1890s

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

At this stage it is a hard one to call as you'd really need to be able to do local research amongst life time whiskey drinkers to see where original string holds would have been. Jameson was always a huge seller abroad while Powers was bigger in Ireland. So did Jameson concentrate on export and Powers on Local. I honestly don't think it is as clear as that. Both were Dublin whiskey's but enjoyed success through out Ireland.

As previously said Powers out sold Jameson in Ireland up until a few years ago but Jameson has always been strong here too. There would be strong holds of the big 3 all over Ireland. The big 3 being Jameson, Paddy & Powers.

I reckon it could even be as mad as locality to locality. As G-W-H said Powers was well liked in Wexford and I know that in Nearby south Kilkenny Powers was the more go to Whiskey too as Power is a strong family name there also. Paddy obviously would have been strong in the south and cork especially. But in neighboring Kerry I know for a fact that Jameson was a big seller too. In my local area in the West of Ireland, Jameson is with out doubt the big seller with the regular whiskey drinkers but whether that is true in the more built up areas I could not say.

I was asked to organize a whiskey reception for a wedding a few years back. So due to orders Jameson Paddy, Powers regular were on offer along with Jameson 12yo,Redbreast 12yo and Midleton. As with all free drink the most expensive seems to go the quickest so half the Midleton was cleared, plenty of Jameson and some Jameson 12yo, hardly any Redbreast but to my surprise the most sampled was Paddy with only a couple of inches left in the bottle.

It's something I've thought about on and off over the years but I cannot say there is any clear reasoning and you would really need local knowledge.

[JohnM]

I have heard that Jameson has overtaken Powers on the island, but Powers is still ahead in just the south. I also have read that Powers was more popular in Cork than Paddy, even though Paddy is a Cork brand. This information is quite old, though, and I don't know how accurate it is.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

I have heard that Jameson has overtaken Powers on the island, but Powers is still ahead in just the south. I also have read that Powers was more popular in Cork than Paddy, even though Paddy is a Cork brand. This information is quite old, though, and I don't know how accurate it is.

I would not dispute that John, As I said it is very hard question to call on .... Paddy would of been strong but whether it was the best seller is another thing. And Hewitts was big in parts of Cork too but not much anywhere else !!!! therefore it's demise.

I'd say you could even say that towns are split going by which pub sold more of which whiskey. I've seen busy pubs with say 4-5 optics of Powers while only 2 Jameson and also visa versa in the same town. Always a good indication of turn over is the amount of pouring bottles open especially busy pubs. If a whiskey sells well you may find a few bottles are placed up and down the bar wall but if it does not it will more tan likely be heaped in with a load of other spirits in a general area. Of course some bars just have that one general area but something to look out for.

[JohnM]

I have heard that Jameson has overtaken Powers on the island, but Powers is still ahead in just the south. I also have read that Powers was more popular in Cork than Paddy, even though Paddy is a Cork brand. This information is quite old, though, and I don't know how accurate it is.

I would not dispute that John, As I said it is very hard question to call on .... Paddy would of been strong but whether it was the best seller is another thing. And Hewitts was big in parts of Cork too but not much anywhere else !!!! therefore it's demise.

I'd say you could even say that towns are split going by which pub sold more of which whiskey. I've seen busy pubs with say 4-5 optics of Powers while only 2 Jameson and also visa versa in the same town. Always a good indication of turn over is the amount of pouring bottles open especially busy pubs. If a whiskey sells well you may find a few bottles are placed up and down the bar wall but if it does not it will more tan likely be heaped in with a load of other spirits in a general area. Of course some bars just have that one general area but something to look out for.

Yeah, it could even be down to what pubs decide to put in Irish coffee, or what they decide to serve when someone just asks for a whiskey.

[Fionnán]

i was out in west donegal of all places last summer and the bartenders all swore that Paddy's was the firm favorite... who could have guessed

[kellardt]

All -

Great information! I appreciate the knowledge and willingness to remember back. The detail is also helpful, esp. the note on how to tell what's popular in a particular pub. Having never worked in a pub or restaurant, it helps getting these insights from the pros.

If in your own asking around you get more info, PLEASE send it my way - esp. if you know anyone in Westmeath or Mullingar proper.

I will be sure to give you, collectively some recognition as the writing project proceeds!

Slainte!

[DavidH]

It's probably worth mentioning that Westmeath had a prominent distillery of its own pre WWII, namely Locke's in Kilbeggan. It's still there and producing again after a hiatus of 50 years. It has a couple of websites:

http://www.lockesdistillerymuseum.ie/

http://www.kilbegganwhiskey.com/

[kellardt]

It's probably worth mentioning that Westmeath had a prominent distillery of its own pre WWII, namely Locke's in Kilbeggan. It's still there and producing again after a hiatus of 50 years. It has a couple of websites:

http://www.lockesdistillerymuseum.ie/

http://www.kilbegganwhiskey.com/

David - thanks! Just the kind of detail I am looking for!