Whiskeys or whiskies?

What is the plural of "whiskey"? I have touched on the spelling of the word "whisk(e)y" before but I have always assumed that once you chose your variant that the plural followed as a matter of course. In other words, the plural of "whiskey" is always "whiskeys" and the plural of "whisky" is always "whiskies".

I have stuck to that convention on this website (though I'm sure I slip up occasionally). I was a little surprised then to see Bushmills' latest print campaign which declared its product "the daddy of whiskies" while the label in the same picture identifies the bottle as containing "Irish whiskey".


I reckoned a Balderdash and Piffle-style investigation was warranted so I asked Bushmills about this interesting juxtaposition. I received a very thorough and thoughtful response. In summary, to underline that Bushmills is the "daddy" of all whiskeys (Irish, Scotch, American, etc.) they adopted the spelling of "whisky" that is not conventional in Ireland.

Below is the full reply from Bushmills.

We did have quite a few debates around the two options 'whiskies' and 'whiskeys' when we were developing the campaign and these debates are still going on!

However, let me try and explain our decision.

The convention today is that Irish whiskey is spelt differently from Scotch whisky. As far as 'Irish whiskey' is confirmed, in the plural form, 2 options are accepted: whiskeys and whiskies. Both are correct, even if we tend to prefer the former spelling (whiskeys) as it retains the specific 'Irish' spelling.

Again, I'd like to stress that this is a matter of convention - and therefore ultimately personal choice. It is worth noting that many Scotch 'whisky' brands did use the 'whiskey' spelling up until the second half of the 20th century... just as Irish brands also used both spellings quite liberally too. To be 100% accurate, I believe that today the legal definition for Scotch Whisky only authorises and recognises 'Scotch Whisky' as a legal descriptor ('whiskey' cannot be used on Scotch labels' - I believe).

Things get a bit more complicated when one is referring to 'all whisk(e)y', whether it is from an Irish, Scottish - or even American, Japanese etc - origin. Which spelling is appropriate then?

Well, we have opted to use the 'standard' spelling 'whisky' in this case, and its plural 'whiskies'.

In the present case of our campaign, it is worth noting that Bushmills ancestry does not only apply to the world Irish whiskey... but actually to all whisk(e)y - as (as I am sure you know) the secret art of distilling, and thus the 'recipe for whisk(e)y' originally came from Ireland to Scotland... and then spread to America and beyond.

This led us to the conclusion that our slogan should read "The Daddy of (all) whiskies", rather than "The Daddy of whiskeys".

Usually when we are talking about Irish whiskey - and particularly our own Bushmills products - we use the plural 'whiskeys' – you will see this on our website. Our American colleagues have chosen to tread another path, and when talking about Irish or American whiskey, they will stick to the spelling with an E in the singular form, but will use the plural 'whiskies'.

New Whiskeys: Tullamore Dew and Greenore

A 10 year old version of Tullamore Dew has been announced. Unsurprisingly for this export-oriented brand it will appear on the US market later in the year. The current versions of Tullamore Dew (no age statement and 12 year old) will continue, so they say.

While it makes sense for C&C (the owners of Tullamore Dew) to extend this very successful brand, it's not obvious to me what they are attempting here. Either they are hoping to create a new market with a slightly different version of an existing product or they really do want to phase out the 12yo. Perhaps we will get more clues in their next annual report.

The other new whiskey has already arrived: Greenore 15 year old from Cooley. It's a single grain whiskey which already exists in an 8yo incarnation (and a 10yo version in Canada, for some reason). I'm a huge fan of the 8yo so I expect something special. It's on sale at the Celtic Whiskey Shop for €85.

Happily, I already have a bottle of this so stand by for a report when I open it in the next day or two.

Meet My Shorts

Perhaps the most expensive place to drink Irish whiskey on this planet is Ireland. It's not just whiskey; nothing is cheap here. A few years ago our Táiniste (deputy prime minister) told us that it was our own fault for not "shopping around".

There's some truth in that so I'm hereby launching my contribution to consumer awareness. I've added a new item to the sidebar on the right called Meet My Shorts. It records the prices I have paid for an Irish whiskey and where. (Actually I have other researchers on the case too so you shouldn't believe that I personally downed all of these shorts.)

The data is looking useful already. The cheapest Jameson to date is €3.70 while the most expensive is €4.95. That's some variation. In the interests of research I'll be "drinking around" in order to identify those establishments that most deserve our patronage.

Whiskey mixers: green tea

While the multinational drinks companies try to make us all swig from the same bottle, there are still local variations in how drinks are consumed.

China, for example, is a very important market for the big whisky brands, like Johnnie Walker and Chivas Regal. But the most common way to drink brown spirits there is mixed with green tea, a notion that would not occur to us in the West.

Since I had all of the ingredients to hand I decided to investigate if China has one more contribution to humanity to place alongside the compass and gunpowder.

For those who wish to replicate the experiment, I chose Barry's Green Tea and Jameson whiskey. Twining's Green Tea would be an acceptable subsititute for Barry's but Robert Roberts is to be avoided under all circumstances. Lyons Green Tea has a peaty nose that I don't enjoy in a cup of tea but which might pair well with a Scotch blend.

I brewed the tea in the usual way (boiling water over a teabag in a cup) and allowed it to cool. At this point I took a picture:


Note that the colour of the whiskey (on the right) is very similar to the colour of the tea. It might have been this coincidence in colouration that first suggested the two should be combined. It might even have been a happy accident as someone mistakenly topped up their cuppa with something stronger. We shall never know.

Adding two parts of tea to one part of whiskey produced an oily precipitate (not unusual; it happens with plain water too). The whiskey nose remained distinct and readily identifiable. Remarkably, the taste of the whiskey was sustained too, with not nearly as much dilution evident as if the same amount of water had been added.

A few cubes of ice (photo below) and this drink suddenly became a very acceptable alternative to a plain whiskey on the rocks. For a whiskey aficionado who switches to the cheap stuff in a bar (and in Ireland you would have to be rock star rich not to) this is a perfectly fine way to pace one's intake while enjoying a decent whiskey hit.

Nice one, China!