506 THE DISTILLING INDUSTRY IN IRELAND. 



made in Ireland is manufactured in pot-stills and what proportion in patent 

 stills.* Then, as already mentioned, the proportion in which the different 

 varieties of grain are mixed varies in different distilleries, and moreover, 

 the quantity of spirit obtained from a bushel of the mixture is by no means 

 constant, but varies with the quality of the materials used. However, as 

 an approximate estimate it may be stated that about nine gallons or rather 

 more of spirit can usually be produced from a barrel of i68 lbs. of the mixed 

 meal. Assuming that at least one-half of the 14,000,000 gallons of spirits 

 distilled in Ireland last year were made in pot-still distilleries, it would 

 appear that about 2,OCO,ooo bushels of barley (nearly one-third of the total 

 Irish yield) were used in the distilling industry, so that distilling obviously 

 exercises a marked influence upon the barley-growing industry in Ireland. 



Distillers and the Law. 



Reference has been already made to the restrictions imposed upon dis- 

 tillers in the middle of the sixteenth century, and with each increase in the 

 taxation imposed, these restrictions became more irksome. Indeed the his- 

 tory of the Irish distillers during a large part of the eighteenth century is 

 chiefly a narrative of ever-changing attempts at fraud, of consequent legisla- 

 tive restrictions and of complicated methods of assessing the duty. Not only 

 were the regulations inadequate for the collection of the duty, but they were 

 also so stringent and so ill-contrived as to prevent the licensed distiller from 

 producing spirits equal in quality to those of the smuggler. The evil of 

 illicit distillation reached such an alarming height in 1821 that a Parlia- 

 mentary Commission was appointed to investigate the laws governing distil- 

 lation, and to propose amendments. As a result of this inquiry new regula- 

 tions were introduced which combined greater security for the Revenue 

 together with a release for the distiller from many of the trammels under 

 which he hitherto conducted his operations. Different methods of charging 

 the duty were compared, and ultimately that prevailing in Scotland (which 

 had been originally suggested by the distillers themselves was adopted, 

 and further improvements followed. 



In 1823 spirits were allowed to be warehoused duty free for home con- 

 sumption in Scotland and Ireland. In 1848 the warehousing regulations of 

 the United Kingdom allowed spirit to be bonded duty-free for exportation, 

 home consumption, for removal to other warehouses, etc., and for use in 

 methylating One per cent, was allowed, too, for waste in racking and 

 blending operations. In 1855 all consumable goods used by distillers were 

 allowed entry duty free. In i860 the legislation concerning distillers was 



* It was stated before the Select Committee on British and Irish Spirits appointed in 

 1890, that, in the year i88g, the quantity of spirits produced in Irish distilleries using pot- 

 still only was 5 745,764 gallons, and in patent still distilleries 1,993,813 gallons, and that in 

 distilleries using both kinds of stills 3,665,210 gallons were produced. It is well known that 

 the amount of patent spirit produced in Ireland has enormously increased during the last ten 

 years, and it seems to be the general opinion that at least one-half of the spirits now made in 

 Ireland are manufactured in patent stills. It is interesting to note that it was estimated in this 

 Report that of the mixed meal used in Irish Distilleries, malt formed 40 per cent, in pot-still 

 manufacturies, 20 per cent, in patent still establishments, and just under 30 per cent, in 

 distilleries which use both kinds of stills. 



