DUBLIN: Scotch whisky exports at £3.9bn (€5.2bn) compared with Irish whiskey exports at €365m in 2014, reflecting a dramatic reversal in fortunes for the Irish industry which had a golden period in the nineteenth century.
Monks first distilled whiskey in Ireland from the 6th century and the Irish ‘uisce beatha’ and Scottish Gaelic ‘uisge beatha,’ were derived from Latin aqua vitae, ‘water of life,’ as was eau de vie and akvavit or aquavit.
The English word whisky or whiskey, derived from the Gaelic, came into usage in the early 1700s and Irish distillers began using ‘whiskey’ in the nineteenth century to distinguish their product from Scotch.
This week the Scottish Whisky Association reported [pdf] exports grew from £1.9bn in 2002 to £3.9bn in 2013 – an increase of 111%. Earlier this month, Bord Bia, the Irish State agency, reported [pdf] that Irish whiskey exports have risen 60% since 2009 to €365m in 2014 despite a slowdown in its biggest market, the US. The agency said Irish whiskey made up 30% of total Irish beverage exports in 2014, and reported that the rise helped to offset slower beer, cream liqueur and cider sales.
Overall, drink exports are estimated to have increased marginally in 2014 to €1.21bn while total food and drink exports of €10.5bn were at about 6% of total headline exports, dominated by foreign multinationals.
