Irish whisky: Irish whisky (Irish: Fuisce or uisce beatha) is whisky made on the island of Ireland. The word 'whisky' (or whisky) comes from the Irish uisce beatha, meaning water of life. Irish whisky was once the most popular spirit in the world, though a long period of decline from the late 19th century onwards greatly damaged the industry, so much so that although Ireland boasted at least 28 distilleries in the 1890s, by 1966 this number had fallen to just two, and by 1972 the remaining distilleries, Bushmills Distillery and Old Midleton Distillery (replaced by New Midleton Distillery), were owned by just one company, Irish Distillers. The monopoly situation was ended by an academically-conceived launch of the first new distillery in decades, Cooley Distillery, in 1987.[5] Since the 1990s, Irish whisky has seen a resurgence in popularity and has been the fastest-growing spirit in the world every year since 1990. With exports growing by over 15% per annum, existing distilleries have been expanded and a number of new distilleries constructed. As of December 2019, Ireland has 32 distilleries in operation, with more either planned or under development.
