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Kinahan’s Irish Whiskey Kinahan’s LL Whiskey is one of the oldest brands of Irish Whiskey (or Whisky) in the world. It was revived in 2014 in Ireland. Whisky, the old Irish spelling is referred to now as Whiskey, but can still be spelled as according to the Irish Whiskey technical file. The new company Kinahan’s Irish Whiskey Limited is based in Dublin 2 close to its original offices and vaults. Kinahan’s LL ceased business in 1920 due to a slump in the Irish Whiskey Industry after two centuries of global success.

History Kinahan’s is one of the oldest whiskey brands in the world, founded in 1779 it can be counted among the world’s 10 oldest brands. Kinahan & Co. opened at 12 Trinity Street, Dublin in 1779. The founder of this wine and spirit enterprise was Daniel Kinahan (1756-1827) of Roebuck Park, County Dublin and 11 Merrion Square, Dublin. Kinahan’s Irish Whiskey Limited to this day still holds an address at 6/9 Trinity street Dublin 2 keeping with the heritage of the brand.

1.1)Background Kinahan’s is one of the first pioneers in whiskey ageing. Dubbed the pioneer of Irish whiskey, it acquired its worldwide recognition in the late 1700s becoming one of the first brands to sell only matured whiskey. At that time maturation wasn’t the norm and whiskey made by other brands were not aged. Casks were only used to transport and store whiskey until consumption or bottling. Nowadays Irish Whiskey has to be matured on the island of Ireland for more than 3 years before it can be called Irish whiskey. In those days you were just lucky if you found something that might have been in a cask longer than normal. Mostly it was Poitín that consumers were drinking and if it traveled far like to America the period of maturation would have been longer.

1.2.) The Preferred choice. Kinahan's LL was the preferred choice of The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, the British Monarchy and famous mixologist Jerry Thomas. In 1807, Charles Lennox, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (Head of State), famously bought all vats of Kinahan’s Whiskey, marking each cask with the "LL" trademark. Kinahan’s later received Royal Warrants of appointment from the British Monarchy in 1845 . Kinahan’s also became the preferred whiskey of Jerry Thomas as featured in his Mixology books The Bar Tenders Guide  1860’s & 1887 (Pg 43 cold Irish Whiskey Toddy,Hot Irish Whiskey Punch p67), He often references Kinahan’s in his recipes and recommends to use Kinahan’s rather than other brands. Jerry Thomas is quoted in his footnote p14, 1862 edition “Irish Whiskey is not fit to drink until its three years old. The best whiskey for this purpose is Kinahan's LL Whiskey" “

1.3 Kinahan’s LL is the world’s first protected trademark. In 1863 the courts in Dublin awarded Kinahan’s LL Whiskey legal protection against other producers who were trying to replicate the brand success by using its mark “LL”. Kinahan v Bolton 1863. This case set a precedent as the first protection of a whiskey trademark in the world in order to prevent others passing off their products with Kinahan’s LL. This falls under Tort of Passing Off which protects the goodwill of a trader from misrepresentation of his product. This helps the consumer to be protected and to identify trusted trademarks.

2.1) Modern day - 2014 Rebirth of Kinahan’s LL. Kinahan’s LL is revived sticking to their roots and have an address in Trinity Street 6/9 Dublin 2, Ireland a few doors away from their original address 12 Trinity street dating back to 1779. They continue to focus on maturation and cask innovation that they were famous for as the original pioneers of whiskey.

2.2.) Collection The Heritage Collection celebrates the return of the iconic brand. Their multi award winning Heritage Collection launched in 2015 paying tribute to their longstanding whiskey making history. They currently have 2 products in the Heritage Collection. Small batch blend and 10 year old single malt. See website for heritage collection.

2.3 Awards, Reviews and Accolades: See website 2.3 Maturation is what Kinahan’s are known for as they were the original pioneers of maturation. Irish whiskey consists of either malt, grain, pot still or blend. Blend could include all of the aforementioned components. All of these components start of as New Make Spirit (NMS) being clear and has to mature for more than 3 years on the Island of Ireland in a wooden cask before it can be called Irish whiskey. It is not allowed to leave the island of Ireland in a wooden cask. The reason for this is so that maturation stops when it exits a cask and leaves the island of Ireland.It has to mature in Ireland and cant mature any further outside of the island of Ireland.As before mentioned NMS starts of clear and then turns into a brown spirit. That is why Whiskey is called a brown spirit.It gets its colour from interaction with the cask.

Further maturation might be required after 3 years and it all depends on your requirements for your final product. Maturation can mean it’s maturing to Irish Whiskey or you are maturing it to improve it further and ageing it. When you improve the liquid that is in the cask you either leave it in the same cask longer or you empty the liquid (either NMS or mature whiskey) out of the current cask and recask into another cask. This will mature the liquid further, adding flavors and the natural derived colour from the previous content of the cask (e.g. sherry or merlot) and characteristics from the new cask to marry with the liquid. The longer the liquid matures in a cask the better it should get in theory until it reaches a stage of final maturation or excessive evaporation of alcohol and volume.Evaporation is credited to a term called the "Angels Share". That is the lovely smell you get when you walk into a maturation warehouse. This "Angles Share" is also attributed to maturation loss and industry have a vast amount of calculation methods to work out these maturation losses. Losses for NMS can range from 8-11% in the first 3 years depending on if the cask were newly charred cask or refilled casks. The minimum strength that Irish whiskey is allowed to be bottled at is 40% and it can’t mature below this percentage or it won’t be Irish Whiskey. Irish whiskey is matured in a Bonded warehouse. A bonded warehouse operates under strick guidelines from the Irish Revenue services.