Irish Whiskey Books

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

A quick list of some Irish Whiskey books that have been published in the past. Please be aware this is not a comprehensive list.


Title .................................... Author .................. Publisher ............. Year 1st Published ... Pages

1000 Years of Irish Whiskey....... Malachy Magee ......... O'Brien press ............. 1980 ............. 144
ISBN: 0905140710 (HardBack 1980)
ISBN: 0862782287 (PaperBack 1991)

Bushmills:
Four Hundred Years in the Making ... Peter Mulryan ...... Appletree Press Ltd ..... 2008 .............. 196
ISBN: 1847580688 (Hardback 2008)

Classic Irish Whiskey............ Jim Murray .................. Prion Books .............. 1997 ............... 256
ISBN: 185375241X (Hardback 1997)

Irish whiskey; A history of
distilling, the spirit trade,
and excise controls in Ireland .... Edward B McGuire ..... Barnes & Noble ............1973 ............... 462
ISBN: 0064947017 (?back 1973)

Irish Whiskey Guide ................ Peter Mulryan .......... Appletree Press Ltd ...... 2009 ............... 128
ISBN: 184758120X (Paperback 2009)

Locke's Distillery: A History ....... Andrew Bielenberg .... Lilliput Press .............. 1993 ............... 122
ISBN: 187467504X (Hardback 1993)
ISBN: 1874675058 (Paperback 1993)


Lost Distilleries of Ireland ......... Brian Townsend ....... Neil Wilson Publishing ... 1997 ................ 154
ISBN: 1897784872 (Paperback 1997 revised Ed 1999)

Spirit of the Age,
The Story of Old Bushmills ....... Alf McCreary ........... Blackstaff Press ........... 1983 ................ 232
ISBN: 0950908304

The Irish Whiskey Almanac ...... Jim Murray .............. Prion Books ............... 1994 ................ 160
ISBN: 1897784333 (Hardback 1994)


Truths About Whisky .............. J.Jameson, Geo.Roe,
......................................... Powers, W. Jameson .. Classic Expressions ...... 1873 ................ 103
ISBN: 1906000026 (hardback 2008 reprint)

Whiskeys of Ireland ................ Peter Mulryan .......... O'brien Press .............. 2002 ................ 155
ISBN: 0862787513 (Hardback 2002)

Whisky Distilleries of the
United Kingdom (& Ireland) ....... Alfred Barnard ......... Birlinn Ltd .................. 1887 ............... 632
(1987, 2003, 2007 & 2008 reprints)
ISBN: 0715347306 (????back 1969)
ISBN: 1851580875 (Hardback 1987)
ISBN: ?????????? (Hardback 2003)
ISBN: 1841582662 (Hardback 2007)
ISBN: 1841586528 (Hardback 2008)


Related topics.


In Praise of Poteen ........... John McGuffin ............. Appletree Press Ltd .......... 1978 ................ 119
ISBN: 0904651428 (Hardback 1978)
ISBN: 0904651363 (Paperback 1978)
ISBN-10: 0862817684 (Paperback 1999)

A Toast to Ireland -
a celebration of traditional
Irish Drinks ...................... John Booth ................. Blackstaff Press ............... 1995 ............. 120
ISBN: 0856405361 (Paperback 1995)
ISBN: 1570980624 (paperback 1996)

[DavidH]

Looks like you have all the important ones there. Glad to say I have six of them already. I'll buy the others too if I spot them.

[JohnM]

Before Classic Irish Whiskey, Jim Murray had The Irish Whiskey Almanac. I have it somewhere but can't find it.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Before Classic Irish Whiskey, Jim Murray had The Irish Whiskey Almanac. I have it somewhere but can't find it.

Now added to the list

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

In Praise of Poteen by John McGuffin added

[PureDrop]

A Toast to Ireland - a celebration of traditional Irish Drinks, John Booth, Blackstaff Press, 1995, 120pp (approx half of the book is devoted to whiskey).

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

A Toast to Ireland - a celebration of traditional Irish Drinks, John Booth, Blackstaff Press, 1995, 120pp (approx half of the book is devoted to whiskey).

Thanks Michael, now updated.

[rathbeggan]

I have a copy of E B McGuire's book but haven't finished it. Fairly dry. The author was head of Customs in Northern Ireland. Not ever reissued to my knowledge. I bought it in Stokes Books in George's St Arcade a few years ago. It was published by Gill and Macmillan in Ireland as well as Barnes and Noble in the US.

I have a small hardback booklet issued by Jameson in the 1950s which I bought fairly recently, I can't remember where.

Jim Murray's first book is the best Irish whiskey book (imo), and is probably his best too.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

The John Jameson book is it this one .....




If anyone wants to see the contents go here

[PureDrop]

One you forgot Adrian, from http://www.whiskymag.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=177851:
"A rare and highly collectable Harry Clarke item. "Elixir of Life" was issued by the Irish whiskey distillers John Jameson & Son Ltd of Dublin in 1925 to promote their whiskey and is thus of interest to collectors of Harry Clarke's book illustrations and whiskey bibliophiles. Arguably the most beautiful book ever issued on whisk(e)y it is illustrated by Clarke on every page spread.

This was the second commission from Jameson, who had issued an earlier soft-cover pamphlet by Clarke in 1924. This later book is hard bound and generally more substantial. Both are very rare.

"Elixir of Life" was published in 1925, when Clarke was at the height of his considerable powers as an illustrator"

17 pp., illustrated. Black cloth spine, green paper covered boards with title on front board pastedown. Nine exquisite Harry Clarke illustrations printed in black, white & yellow.
/Michael

[PureDrop]

Other volumes:
Irish Whiskey By John Clement Ryan, Published by Eason & Son, 1992, ISBN 1873430035, 9781873430033, 24 pages
Irish Whiskey: Old & New, By Andrew O'Gorman, Mary O'Callaghan, Irish Guild of Sommeliers, Irish Guild of Sommeliers, Published by Irish Guild of Sommeliers, 1998
139 pages
Cooking with Irish Whiskey: 25 Favourite Recipes (Hardcover) by Aisling O'Connor, Hamlyn 1995
Scotch and Irish Whisky (Collins Guide) - (2000) by Carol P. Shaw

Two older tomes:
1) A Philosophical and Statistical History of the Inventions and Customes of Ancient and Modern Nations in the manufacture and use of Inebriating Liquors with the present practice of distillation in all its varieties: etc. by Samuel Morewood, Dublin 1838 .
A copy of the book can be downloaded as a 38MB PDF file from http://books.google.com/books/download/A_Philosophical_and_Statistical_History_.pdf?id=Ae9BAAAAIAAJ
This even mentions "deoch-a-doras" (pp 580). He deals with Ireland from page 585 onwards - great reading here(?) - some interesting stuff on pp 602, and aqua vitae starts on pp 615 - fascinating stuff on 616/617 - (you'll never be able to look at a Castlemaine XXXX again without a little smirk betraying your superior knowledge is within!), 50 pages on various stills finally takes you to a short description of the distilleries starting at page 677. The table on page 682 is also interesting. Enjoy! They don't write them like this anymore.

2) Another one to keep an eye out for is The Spirit Trader's Handbook by JJ McBride, published in Belfast 1900.

The EPPI site http://www.eppi.ac.uk is the place to go to look for Parliamentary reports - e.g. http://www.eppi.ac.uk/eppi/digbib/view?did=c1%3A78976&p=309&fp=306&lp=317&rp=1&Submit=Go

and for something more modern:
DVD: On the Irish Whiskey Trail, http://www.amazon.com/Irish-Whiskey-Trail/dp/B000ARXFNW
the only review refers to a book - I smell a rat! - good/funny review at http://www.alcademics.com/2008/02/video-bartender.html

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

1) A Philosophical and Statistical History of the Inventions and Customes of Ancient and Modern Nations in the manufacture and use of Inebriating Liquors with the present practice of distillation in all its varieties: etc. by Samuel Morewood, Dublin 1838 .

A nice catchy easy to remember title there Michael

[DavidH]

1) A Philosophical and Statistical History of the Inventions and Customes of Ancient and Modern Nations in the manufacture and use of Inebriating Liquors with the present practice of distillation in all its varieties: etc. by Samuel Morewood, Dublin 1838 .

A nice catchy easy to remember title there Michael

I think we found our society motto!

[rathbeggan]

Sorry for delay getting back,

"Soverigne Liquor" is the one Jameson pamphlet I got recently. The Harry Clarke one sounds interesting.

[John]

An amazing collection of texts there lads. It's always good to have recourse to such a comprehensive library.
J.

[cathach]

Just in relation to the study of Irish whiskey, does anyone know where the actual references to key dates etc. are? I've looked in my books ad there are references for instance to 1405 as the first written reference to Irish spirit, also other dates are 1541 as Queen Elizabeth requisitioning spirit from the Duke of Ormonde (I think it was him anyway), and 1607 for Sir Walter Raleigh commenting on some spirit Boyle the Earl of Cork sent him. However in none of the books in my possession are there footnotes or details of where the dates and quoted texts are taken from. Any pointers???

[PureDrop]

Hello Cathach.
The 1405 date is one of "my" hobbies.

I come from south Leitrim (Mohill). Formerly, from about 900AD to the 1600s, the area corresponding to the baronies of Leitrim and Mohill was known as "Muintir Eoluis", i.e. the people of Eoluis. These corresponded to the Reynolds clan (or Mac Ranaills) who had two bases, one on Lough Scur and the other on Lough Rinn.

In 1405, it is recorded in the Annals of Connaught that
Risded Mag Ragnaill adbur taisig na nEolusach quieuit iar n-ol usci bethad co himarcach, & dob usci marbtha do Risded
this translates as
"Risderd Mag Ragnaill, eligible for the chieftainship of the Muinter Eolais, entered into rest after drinking ‘water of life’ to excess; it was deathly water to him. "

It may or may not be the oldest reference to Uisce Beatha but is I think the first reference of someone dying from alcohol poisoning. Given the proximity to the Shannon (wine imports from France), its also possible that it was a brandy rather than whiskey but I prefer to ignore that possibility.
I've references to this and maps at http://homepage.eircom.net/~tina/mohill/MohillHistory.htm

I always wanted to brand a whiskey as the Richie Reynolds memorial bottle.
I also tried to get a postage stamp issued to mark the 500th year of his passing but you need to be in two years before the event - not sure they'd have gone for it either.
See http://celt.ucc.ie/captured.html for other texts.

See also http://www.maltmaniacs.org/ADHD/mm14a.html where I supplied this info to Lex K a few years ago while he debated the same question.
/M

[Whiskey Pilgrim]

Kaixo Chicos,

My Irish Whiskey book list;

Cooking with Irish Whiskey by Aisling O´Connor
The Whiskey of Ireland by Peter Mulryan
Bushmills 400 in the making by Ptere Mulryan
The Lost distilleries of Ireland by Brian Townsend
Classic Irish Whiskey by Jim Murray
Irish Whiskey a 1000 year tradition by Malachy Magee
Irish Whiskey Almanac by Jim Murray
Truths about Whisky reprinted by Classicexpressions
Whisky by Aeneas MacDonald
The Bushmills Irish Pub Guide by Sybil Taylor

Agur,

[varizoltan]

anyone know this book?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Irish-Alcoholic ... 84&sr=1-16

[Hot Irishman]

The John Jameson book is it this one .....




If anyone wants to see the contents go here

Hello IWC,

WOuld it possible to load up some internal images of that Jameson book. When I hit the link it doesn;t work for me.

Much appreciated.

H

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Hi Hot Irishman,

And welcome to the forum.

There are probably too many to be posting up here and all of them together are over 10mb so not sure about mailing them to you. However if you sign up to the following Yahoo Group you should be able to view them all. It's not in use any more but you can have a look around still. Plenty of photo's of Irish whiskey still there too.

Irish Whiskey yahoo group

If that does not work I can mail them to you in a few emails

[irish-whiskey]

Here one .... its a very small book

[DavidH]

I haven't come across that one before, and I've been through everything in the National Library. Is there any hard info in it (like a mashbill, say)?

[TheWhiskeyBro]

Also do you know the date it was published or for which 'fair' it was produced for... thanks

[Ace]

anyone know this book?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Irish-Alcoholic ... 84&sr=1-16

I bought that book, much to my regret. I suggest you pass. It is little more than a compendium of publicly available information about the various Irish whiskey distilleries. Information is scant and there are no illustrations. In several areas the book refers to you to websites instead of providing substantive information.