Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/490558
80 { THE SOMM JOURNAL } APRIL/MAY 2015 They were right, but it was an enormous, patient leap of faith and financial foresight says O'Donovan, a native of County Cork and a walking, talking encyclopedia of Irish whiskey and its history. Ireland was once home to around 600 brands, with production in the millions of cases of single pot-still whiskey—the favored method of distilling—until extenu- ating circumstances forced most of them out of business. Circumstances conspired to make a very bad blend that, by the 1970s, crippled the Irish distilling industry, leaving just two producers: Midleton in the Republic and Bushmills in Northern Ireland, both under the umbrella company, Irish Distillers. In 1988, Pernod Ricard acquired Irish Distillers, and Crocket's sleeping stash of barrels was beckoned to wake up. Since then, Irish whiskey sales have been on a steady incline, with the recent surge of popularity of brown spirits in the U.S. kicking the preference for pot still sips into high gear. Research from the newly minted Irish Distillers Association shows that Irish whiskey exports rose from just 9% to 28% in little more than a decade. In 2014, by- volume U.S. sales were up 17.5%, beating out single malt Scotch category, according to the latest report from the Distilled Spirits Council, a Washington, D.C., not- for-profit spirits advocacy group. "Irish whiskey has been riding a high for the past three or four years now," says Marlon Paltoo, the dedicated Whiskey Ambassador and Purchaser for Park Avenue Liquors on Manhattan's Upper East Side. "And it's definitely going to a younger crowd. People in their late 20s to mid-30s are really into Irish whiskey, and they're most interested in what's hard to find." Jameson, in particular, has anchored the revolution. "It's become a real bartender's brand," says O'Donovan, noting that the whiskey, which combines pot and column still whiskeys, is an easy-going style particularly popular in markets like New York, Chicago, Minneapolis and San Francisco. "The blend is really accessible—not everyone can go straight into a single malt or a single pot. We see Jameson as the entry to lead someone into Irish whiskey; then they can explore." Flavien Desoblin, owner of Brandy Library, says his customers consider Ireland "a source of great whiskey, not a source of great value." "Whiskeys like Redbreast 21 are so bril- liant. It's time to bring back the age state- ment to the Irish whiskey scene. And this category—the single pot still—it makes sure that people know there's a variety of quality Irish whiskey. That's important," he says. The first foray back into the lost bou- tique brands of the Irish pot still started in the 1990s with the ex-bourbon and sherry cask–aged Redbreast 12. Then came Redbreast 15 in 2005. In 2011, Pernod Ricard decided to re-launch Green Spot with 5,000 cases, a small-batch blend of seven- to ten-year-old Irish pot still whiskeys; Redbreast Cask Strength was launched soon thereafter. Those successes spurred Pernod Ricard to commit to launching two new pot still whiskeys each year for the next decade under the watchful care of new Master Distiller, Brian Nation (Crocket retired, { fine spirits } Marlon Paltoo is the dedicated Whiskey Ambassador and Purchaser for Park Avenue Liquors, an important off-premise account on Manhattan's Upper East Side. "We see Jameson as the entry to lead someone into Irish whiskey." "We want the whole wall to be Irish whiskey," says Pernod Ricard Irish Whiskey Ambassador Ciarán O'Donovan, shown here at Brandy Library in NYC.