Seeks Larger Share of Market : Ireland Fires Off a New Salvo in Whiskey Battle

Ireland has fired off a new salvo in its long-running “whiskey war” with Scotland as it fights to capture a larger share of the huge market dominated by Scotch.

The new move is the production of Ireland’s first pure malt whiskey in over 50 years by the world’s oldest licensed whiskey distillery, the Old Bushmills Distillery Co.

The Old Bushmills single-malt whiskey is clearly designed to capitalize on a recent resurgence of interest in pure malt Scotch whiskies as opposed to ordinary varieties that are blends of malt and grain spirits.

The battle is being taken right to the enemy. Glasgow, the heart of Scotch territory, was one of the first cities included in the launch last September by Bushmills, part of the Dublin-based Irish distillers group.

The Bushmills company, located in this village near the north coast of Northern Ireland, has been producing whiskey since 1608, when the representative of King James I of England in the area, Sir Thomas Phillips, was granted a license.

The Old Bushmills brand, along with leading Dublin distillers Jamesons and Powers, came to dominate the home and world markets for whiskey in the 19th and early 20th centuries, when Scotch was virtually unknown abroad.

According to Bushmills managing director Billy McCourt, the good name of Irish whiskey in the United States, the main export market, suffered during prohibition in the 1920s, when many inferior imitations were sold.

McCourt said the launch of the new malt had succeeded beyond expectations, and there were other encouraging signs. The group’s sales in Britain had risen by 26% this year.

He admitted that Irish whiskey sales were still only a fraction of those of Scotch, but added: “We have been gradually pulling back.”