Irish whisky should probably have been mentioned first in this list, as Ireland is supposed - I don't know how truly - to be the original home of whisky. Although Ireland is celebrated for its whisky, yet there are very few distilleries in that country at the present time and pot stills are used exclusively.

There are two kinds of Irish whisky. All malt, that is, made solely of barley malt, and a part malt and part unmalted cereals. The proportion of malt used in Ireland is very much larger than in the United States, ranging as it does from 100 percent for all malt whisky to 50 percent or slightly less, for the part malt whisky. Very little whisky is made in Ireland in which the proportion of malt runs as low as in this country. The Scotch distilleries are usually very small, while the Irish are very large. The following description of one of the largest plants, the Powers Distillery in Dublin, which I had the opportunity to study in detail, will prove of interest:

The distillery covers 8 acres on the south side of the Liffy and has an annual capacity of about 000,000 gallons. The corn (barley) screens and mills are of the most approved pattern. The elevators are of cast iron, so as to prevent the spread of fire, and being constructed of plates can be opened at any point.

The stores contain about 40,000 barrels and are used to their utmost capacity during the 9 months working season which extends from September to June.

The mash tubs are 33 feet in diameter and 7 feet 6 inches deep. The mash at each brewing being 500 barrels.

In the fermenting house there are four refrigerators and nine wash backs each holding one brewing, viz., 30,000 gallons.

The stills are all of the pot still type. There are six of these huge boiling vessels, working off 19,000 to 25,000 gallons each. The daily consumption of coal for the purpose being over 50 tons.

The walk through some of the bonded warehouses is an experience I shall never forget. There are nineteen upon the premises and two outlying warehouses, one under the South City Market, and the other under Westland Row Railway Station, the whole with a combined capacity of 50,000 casks, vessels ranging from the great 120 galloner down to the humble 28 gallon cask, piled one on top of another yet none touching its neighbor, there being planks between to allow a free circulation of the cool air kept always at one temperature; and with the knowledge that once the cask gets into its maturing position it does not leave it for at least five years, and in the majority of cases 7, 9, 12, and even 14 years.

To me the most interesting distillery in Ireland is the Old Bushmills near the Giant's causeway in the North of Ireland. The historic interest of its surroundings and the scenic beauty of the neighborhood will repay the sightseer for his trouble in visiting the locality.