It’s an exciting time for Irish whiskey, with new brands and releases distilling and bottling a culture and taste native to the Emerald Isle.

Located along the Donegal coast on the Wild Atlantic Way, Sliabh Liag Distillers is home to the legendary Silkie Irish Whiskey collection, made up of three malt and grain whiskeys.

The original (€40) is the perfect sipping whiskey, to be enjoyed as it is, over ice or in your favourite whiskey cocktail.

The colour is straw gold with hints of amber and flavours of green apples and honeyed butter, all combined with a taste of orange zest, digestive biscuits and stem ginger, for a signature softness.

For those who like their whiskey with a bit more character, try the legendary Dark Silkie Irish Whiskey (€40), a smoky blend of double-distilled single malts and triple-distilled peated single malts with soft grain whiskey, created to savour in the later watches of the night.

For those who enjoy something smokier, The Midnight Silkie (€46) completes the core collection, and was recently awarded a double gold medal in its first competition in San Francisco.

James and Moira Doherty set up Sliabh Liag Distillers with a commitment to restoring the distilling heritage of Donegal, distributing to 35 countries around the globe.

To shop the full range of tastefully smoky whiskeys, go to sliabhliagdistillers.com/shop/ and choose ROI.

Coming home

Having experienced quick success in the US since launching in 2021, Irish whiskey Lost Irish has finally made its way home, launching in the Irish market this month.

Founded by Irish childhood friends from Termonfeckin Tim Herlihy and Neil Sands, Lost Irish is inspired by their experiences as proud Irishmen with a love for travelling the world, bringing Neil’s creative entrepreneurial background together with Tim’s time as an Irish whiskey ambassador and whiskey author.

As a result, the whiskey is instilled with the distinctly Irish thirst for travel, adventure, and seeing the world around us.

Emphasising the unique global influence, it is made using casks sourced from six continents around the globe: Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, Oceania and South America.

Lost Irish is an untraditional blend of all three styles of Irish whiskey - grain, malt and pot still - giving it a unique flavour profile, exclusively available now from Celtic Whiskey, priced at €65 per bottle.

Futureproof

The innovation and move towards the future isn’t just evident on shelves, with investment focusing on safeguarding the planet, too.

Irish Distillers will invest €50m in Cork’s Midleton Distillery over the next four years to deliver a carbon-neutral operation by the end of 2026, putting them on track to become Ireland’s first and largest carbon-neutral distillery.

Supporting this plan is an ambitious roadmap that involves reducing energy use, as well as generating power from renewables, among other innovative projects.

As part of the initial phases of the roadmap, Irish Distillers has invested in highly efficient boilers, which will require less fuel to operate.

Their next port of call will be to collaborate closely with global experts and partners on technology that will help to compress and recycle waste heat in the distilling process.

This the first time this technology has been used across multiple batch processes in distilling.

The first three phases of the roadmap alone are expected to reduce emissions by up to 70%, which is news that is certainly a glass half full.