Irish whiskey roaring back after decades of decline

theguardian.com:

Karen Gregory, a tourist from Oklahoma, visited Dublin this week, inhaled an aroma of malted barley at Teeling Whiskey Distillery, and picked a side in a centuries-old contest. “Definitely Irish. It’s lighter and brighter. Scotch is too heavy.”

The crowd of visitors merrily sipping neat whiskeys, whiskey cocktails and whiskey-infused coffees suggested more converts to the Irish side of a rivalry that has pitted two venerable traditions in a battle for market domination.

Ireland’s distilleries prevailed in the 19th century, accounting for more than 60% of sales in the US, before disaster struck. The Irish ignored new technologies, curbed exports during US prohibition in the 1920s, and got caught in a trade war with the UK. Scotland seized its chance and ramped up global exports, establishing scotch as a synonym for all types of whiskey.

“We fell from 60% to 2% in the US, that’s some trick,” said John Teeling, a doyen of Irish whiskey producers. Then he smiled: “But I think we’ll overtake the Scots by the end of the decade. There’ll be a huge party when that happens.”

After decades of quiet woe, Irish whiskey is roaring back. From just four operational distilleries in 2010, there are now 42 on the island of Ireland. Annual global sales have surged from 5m cases (60m bottles) in 2010 to 14m cases (168m bottles) last year, fuelled by new offerings and younger drinkers.

Growth in the US has been especially strong, rising 16% last year to a record $1.3bn, according to the Distilled Spirits Council. If the trend continues, Irish whiskey sales in the US – currently 5.9m cases – will overtake scotch, which has plateaued at about 8m cases, by 2030.

Globally, however, sales of scotch, at 1.3bn bottles, still dwarf its Irish rival, which