A Look at Irish Whiskey for St. Patrick's Day

FROM  THESTREET.COM: 

In America, we have the cola wars. In Ireland, it's the whiskey wars.

How else to explain the centuries-old rivalry between Jameson Irish Whiskey and Bushmills Irish Whiskey, the two leading brands of Irish whiskey?

Both are names steeped in history and among the best-known Irish exports in the world, though Jameson outsells Bushmills by a three-to-one margin in the United States.

Back at home, in a country still somewhat divided by religion, they have their fiercely loyal fans: Jameson, produced in the Catholic-rich cities of Cork and Dublin, has naturally gained the reputation as the "Catholic whiskey."

By contrast, Bushmills, distilled in Protestant-heavy Northern Ireland, has a Protestant following. Never mind that until a few years ago, both brands were owned by the same conglomerate, Pernod Ricard of France. (Bushmills has since been sold to London-based Diageo(DEO).)

The Jameson-Bushmills divide has even crossed over into this country: Witness the scene in the HBO (TWX) series The Wire, when Irish-Catholic police detective James McNulty refuses a drink of Bushmills at a party. "That's Protestant whiskey," he snarls.

But whiskey is best judged by its taste, not by matters of faith. (To quote one spirits expert, "Bushmills ... has much to recommend it to Catholic, Protestant, Zoroastrian and Baha'i alike.")

Irish whiskey is a much more approachable elixir than, say, Scotch single-malts. Though both are made from grain -- barley, to be exact -- Scotch gets its often distinctively fiery flavor from the peat smoke used in drying the barley. Irish whiskey does without the peat, resulting in a lighter taste. Another key difference: Scotch is distilled two times, Irish whiskey three, making Irish all the smoother.