Irish "mouth cannon": If you don't drink, you will be beaten
But anyone who knows the top level of unlimited mixed martial arts in the United States must be familiar with the name of Connor McGregor. Born in Dublin, Ireland, Connor can not only fight, but also curse. Once relied on his mouth cannon skill, scolded the opponent until he lost his sanity, arrested who hit whom, and made him lose the qualification to win gold!
With his kung fu and swearing, he won the UFC featherweight and lightweight double championships and was named the most capable (and scolding) man in the world.
In addition to being able to fight, Brother Mouth Cannon is also super able to drink, and created his own whisky brand Proper No. 12 last year. During the promotion, the mouth cannon brother said wildly: "I don't mean to look down on other Irish whiskey, but I am going to enter the game strongly!" ”
This so-called "Proper" Irish whiskey is an entry-level liquor with a thin and unmellow texture and a high price. After its launch in the market, bad reviews kept coming.
In order to promote his whisky, in June this year, he came to a Dublin pub and invited other drinkers to drink Proper No. 12 for free. However, a whiskey veteran rejected his kindness, and the mouth cannon brother became angry and suddenly punched the uncle who refused his hospitality.
Although the mouth cannon brother was eventually pulled away, the uncle did not receive substantial damage. But the actions of the mouth cannon brother affected the entire Irish whiskey industry. Originally, he was beaten if he didn't drink Proper No. 12, but in the end, he became beaten without drinking Irish whiskey, making Irish whiskey laugh at the world.
Irish whiskey
Don't look at the fact that Irish whiskey is not as famous in the world as Solvay, or even as good as American whiskey. But in fact, for a long time, Irish whiskey is the hegemon of the whisky industry, which not only has a long history, but is the ancestor of Solvay; Moreover, with its insistence on quality, it was once a symbol of the highest quality whisky.
The ancestor of Scotch whisky turned out to be Ireland?
When it comes to whisky, Scotch, Japanese whisky and American whisky are mentioned the most, and Irish whisky is rarely discussed. But Ireland is very important for whisky. Because whisky originated in Ireland, not what we think it would be – it's just that Scotland gave birth to them.
As early as the Middle Ages, Irish monks brought back distillation technology from the Arab region and began to replace grapes with Irish grains such as barley and corn. The Irish named this wine "UISCE beatha", which was used to prevent and cure diseases, and drank several glasses a day. The English word whisky (whisky or whiskey) comes from the Old Irish word uisce beatha, which means "water of life".
Monks distill "water of life"
At Christmas Day 1405, Irish clans and tribes held a feast and drank the "water of life". As a result, the head of the clan died because he drank too much of the water of life, which is also the earliest written record of whisky history.
The whisky distillation technique was introduced to Scotland and also associated with Ireland.
There was an ancient family in Irish history, the MacDonald, who occupied Islay Island, which is now part of Scotland. Members of this family married girls from another ancient Irish family. It was this girl and her dowry who brought the technique of distilling whisky to Islay.
The famous Islay production area, across the sea from Ireland, is known as the "Burgundy" of the whisky world, with well-known distilleries such as Pomo and Adebeg.
It was only then that Scotch whisky flourished from Islay. However, before the 19th century, as the big brother of the whisky industry, Irish whisky beat Scotch whisky and was once a symbol of quality.
At that time, Scotch whisky was not uniform due to the brewing process, in addition to copper stills, there were people who used iron, clay and other messy materials to distill whisky, so the quality of whisky was uneven. Ireland set whiskey making standards early, and many professional distilleries appeared.
Before the nineteenth century, there were few specialist distilleries in Scotland, mostly family-run whisky.
Especially in the Dublin area, winemakers, including John Jameson (what we later called Jameson), began to uniformly adopt the complex pure pot distillation method. The resulting whisky is light and fragrant, far superior to the rough Scotch whisky. Winemakers also adopt a highly ritualistic act of engraving their names on bottles as a symbol of quality.
Ireland has long had a number of specialty distilleries that produce whiskey using pot stills.
The resulting whisky thus distilled ensured quality and became the gold standard for whisky distillation. Queen Victoria of England at the time loved Irish whiskey so much that she ordered barrels of Irish whiskey to be transported to her court. After that, the Scots also followed the example of Big Brother and adopted the pot distillation technique.
At its peak, Ireland was the world's largest whiskey producing region, with over 2,000 whisky distilleries. Even in Scotland, Irish whisky sold more than Scotch whisky.
At the end of the 18th century, Irish whiskey swept the British Isles.
However, prosperity is bound to decline.
In 1831, Irish tax collector Aeneas Coffey invented the tower still, which was more efficient than traditional pot stills, distilling more of the original wine continuously, but also stripping away the original flavor of the wine, making it lose its personality.
As shown above, the difference between a pot still and a tower still is clear at a glance, the tower still has a high-column structure, which can obtain purer steam and more raw wine, mostly used to distill vodka.
At that time, the Irish thought that the whiskey produced by this new type of still was too inferior, so they insisted on the traditional pot still. But the Scots pioneered this new process, and they soon tasted the sweetness of mass production and began exporting blended whisky to the world, and it was during this period that blended whisky giants such as Johnnie Walker, Chivas and Ballantine rose.
Scotland's major blended whisky brands later invited captains as their agents to sell whisky around the world.
And in 1845-1852, Ireland experienced a great famine, and the grain used to make whiskey was drastically reduced. Irish officials at the time launched a vigorous "moderation campaign", increasing taxes on whiskey, and a number of distilleries began to close.
Because the British refused to help during the famine, which aroused the national consciousness of the Irish, Ireland set off an independence movement. Although the Irish won the War of Independence from 1921, they also lost markets for the British Empire and its colonies, making whiskey difficult to export.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the ocean, the U.S. Prohibition Act was passed and no more spirits were imported. Ireland refused to cooperate with American moonshiners to illegally export whiskey to them. Therefore, moonshiners in the United States used inferior goods to impersonate high-end Irish whiskey, resulting in the image of Irish whiskey falling to the bottom.
During Prohibition, Americans dumped large quantities of Irish whiskey.
When Irish whisky was troubled internally and externally, Scotch whisky took the opportunity to attack the city. Savvy Scottish distilleries banded together to form Scotch Whisky Limited, acquiring numerous distilleries in Ireland and closing them down one by one to protect the Scotch whisky industry.
In 1930, William Ross, managing director of Scotch Whisky Limited, wrote in his diary: "Ireland has nothing to do with whisky henceforth. "It sounds sad from the heart.
The Irish whiskey industry has directly regressed hundreds of years during this period, and has been pressed by the leading boss Scotland, and even the whisky upstart Japan.
From glory to loneliness, the road to the revival of Irish whisky
Today, there are very few whiskey distilleries in Ireland, with just over 20 distilleries left, notably Midleton Distillery, Bushmills Distillery and Teeling Distillery.
Ireland is home to the world's oldest whiskey distillery, the Bushmills Distillery, which has been distilling whiskey since 1608.
The Bushmills Distillery has launched a 400th anniversary whisky, Bushmills 1608.
Although compared with its former younger brother Scotch whisky, it is difficult for Ireland to create a revolutionary breakthrough in terms of taste and production efficiency, Irish whisky is not useless.
Despite the fall of the tiger, Irish whiskey still has its own perseverance and has always maintained its own unique style. Most distilleries generally use the traditional pot distillation method, which is not conducive to the increase of production, but can make the distilled original wine unique and full of personality, full of vanilla, apple, spices and grassy notes.
The Jameson produced by Midleton Distillery is the world's best-selling Irish whiskey with a unique flavor and aroma of caramel apple pie.
On the other hand, unlike Scotch whiskey, which is mostly double-distilled, Irish whiskey is generally triple-distilled. After three extractive distillations, although the filtration time is greatly increased, more impurities in the original wine are also removed, making the wine more clean and pure, soft and smooth.
The most important thing is that the entire country of Ireland is free of serious pollution, the air is clean and the water is clear. The superior natural environment further contributes to the clean, pure, easy-to-drink characteristics of Irish whisky.
Whisky Master Dave Quinn tastes Irish whiskey
No wonder that although Irish whisky is now far less influential than Scotland, Irish people still insist that their whisky is the best whisky in the world. Therefore, in the spelling of whiskey, the Irish "whiskey" has one more "e" than the Scottish "whisky", and the Irish believe that this "e" stands for "excellent".
Throwing out this year's verbal brother to smear the Irish whiskey industry, Irish whiskey has indeed rebounded in the circle in recent years, and there is a great tendency to make a comeback. It has not only won many awards in the world spirits competition, but also been widely sought after by people in the film and television circles and literary circles.
The whisky produced by Teeling Distillery won the world's best single malt whisky at this year's Global Whisky Grand Prix, beating Solvay and Riwei.
The Dead Rabbit, an Irish bar in the United States, won the first place in the world's 50 best bars in 2015 and 2016 with Irish whiskey. Its Dead Rabbit Irish whiskey bears witness to the struggle of early Irish immigrants to the United States.
Lady Gaga once told the audience at a show that her favorite liquor was Irish Jameson whiskey, and Rihanna wrote Jameon into the song "Cheers (Drink to That)".
Lady Gaga
A large part of the HBO drama "Atlantic Empire" tells the history of American gangsters smuggling whiskey from Ireland during Prohibition. In the play, Irish whiskey is hard currency, and a gang of Irish immigrants once exchanged 10,000 cases of whiskey for 1,000 machine guns and sold them to the IRA against the British.
In Atlantic Empire, gangsters drink Irish whiskey.
At the end of "Our Language is Whiskey", Murakami records how an old Irish man in a neat suit who drinks a glass of whiskey like a fairy and finally leaves in the dust.
Haruki Murakami: "(Irish) whiskey is like a beautiful woman that needs to be appreciated. After a careful gaze, it's time to drink. ”
Although there are only a few Irish distilleries left, the Irish people's adherence to traditional craftsmanship and insistence on quality make Irish whisky still a force to be reckoned with in the world's whisky map.
For those who are accustomed to drinking Solvay and Riwei, you may wish to try Irish whiskey.
Savor this masterpiece of traditional craftsmanship and time as you savor the rise and fall of Irish whiskey over the centuries. Inadvertently, you've probably drunk the world's oldest and most fateful whisky.
It is because of the insistence on quality and tradition that Irish whisky is able to endure and pass on the torch