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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Rory Carroll Ireland correspondent

Irish whiskey roaring back after decades of decline

Pot stills at the Teeling Whiskey Distillery in Dublin
Pot stills at the Teeling Whiskey Distillery in Dublin. Globally, sales of scotch, at 1.3bn bottles, dwarf its Irish rival, which sells 190m bottles. Photograph: Rory Carroll/The Guardian

Karen Gregory, a tourist from Oklahoma, visited Dublin this week, inhaled an aroma of malted barley at Teeling Whiskey Distillery, and picked a side in a centuries-old contest. “Definitely Irish. It’s lighter and brighter. Scotch is too heavy.”

The crowd of visitors merrily sipping neat whiskeys, whiskey cocktails and whiskey-infused coffees suggested more converts to the Irish side of a rivalry that has pitted two venerable traditions in a battle for market domination.

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