Pure Pot Still
"Unquestionable some of the world's greatest whiskeys"
Pure pot still Irish whiskey is similar to a single malt, in that it is not blended with grain whiskey. It is, therefore, a straight whiskey. It is now only made in one distillery in the world - Midleton in Co. Cork.
It is made differently to single malt because the mash it is brewed and distilled is made from both malted and un-malted barley. The enzymes in the malted barley effectively stimulate the production of malt in the un-malted barley.
There are only a few of these on the market today - Redbreast 12 and Green Spot. The others you get now and again are limited editions.
Whiskey being made in pot stills
Traditionally "pot still whiskey" was made from a mixture of malted and un-malted barley, distilled in a pot still as opposed to a Collumn still. The ratio of un-malted to malted barley can vary, but there tends to be more un-malted barley in a pure pot still whiskey blend. For example, the various Jameson blends have a 60:40 (un-malted:malted) ratio.
Under modern Irish law, any whiskey distilled in a pot still can be termed "pot still whiskey". Therefore, it is not legally necessary for a distiller to add un-malted barley to his or her grain mix. Some whiskeys produced by the Cooley Distillery break from tradition and do not use un-malted grain. Thus, they are actually single malt whiskeys, but can be legally labeled "pot still whiskey" if the distiller so chooses. The majority of "pot still whiskeys" conform to the traditional definition.
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