Irish Whiskey News & Stories

Saint Patrick's Day started as a religious holiday in Ireland and has shifted over time to a secular celebration of Irish heritage and culture. Food, music, dancing, parades, and drinking are popular activities during Paddy's Day celebrations. The first celebration is credited to Boston in 1737 with a dinner hosted by Irish immigrants that is still commemorated today. New York city is credited with hosting the first Saint Patrick's Day parade. Chicago celebrates by dying their river green.  As the saying goes, "Everyone is Irish on Saint Patrick's Day". A 2025 national survey seemingly backs this up as 76% of...

Powerscourt Distillery Is Raising The Bar For Irish Whiskey There is a revolution happening in the Irish Whiskey industry as new distilleries like Powerscourt turn out exciting new products that are challenging traditional conventions.   By Hudson Lindenberger Mar 07, 2025 Fercullen Single Malt. Powerscourt Distillery Hailing from County Wicklow on the eastern edge of Ireland, Powerscourt Distillery has emerged as a beacon of innovation in the Irish Whiskey industry. Founded in 2018, the distillery exemplifies a fresh approach to Irish whiskey, combining historical reverence with modern craftsmanship. Three of their whiskies, Fercullen Falls Blended Whiskey, Fercullen Single Malt, and Fercullen...

We are celebrating Irish Turf during February. Not just for keeping people warm during the winter, peat or turf is influencing more Irish Whiskey brands everyday. As part of our celebration, we featured peated whiskey in both our Cocktail of the Month and Whiskey of the Month review. We will culminate our peat passion with a virtual Turf Toast Virtual Event on March 9th. We realize peated whiskey is polarizing. However, many opinions have been formed based on Scotch varieties rather than Irish whiskeys. Many people have not even tried whiskeys using Irish turf due to its limited availability. Not...

Cheers to 2024! Thanks to all IWSA Members for a fun and successful 2024. We will be celebrating our 15th anniversary in 2025! Before we look ahead to what's planned for this year we wanted to take one last look back at everything that went on in 2024. Membership 2024 was another year of double digit % membership growth. We expanded across the USA with the addition of new members in North Dakota and Hawaii. Now there are only 7 remaining states without IWSA members (AK, AR, IA, NM, SD, UT, WY). If you have friends or family living in these...

Two Irish Whiskeys were named in Whisky Advocate's Top 20 of 2024. Congratulations to Redbreast Missouri Oak Edition (#16) and Bushmills 10yr old Private Reserve Bordeaux cask (#18). See the full Top 20 list here