The social drinker

Some readers will have sat in one of the country’s many fine Victorian pubs at some stage, and wondered idly what the letters DWD stand for. These are the letters you occasionally see emblazoned in black and gold on old mirrors, along with the boast that DWD is the “finest whiskey in the world”.

The claim was based on the verdict contained within a book written in 1887 called The Whisky Distilleries of the United

Kingdom by Alfred Barnard, which named DWD as belonging to the “highest class” among Dublin’s six distilleries.

Since World War II, it has been hard to test the veracity of this claim. The distillery, which was founded by John Brannick in the mid 19th Century, was broken up and sold by the government in the 1940s to help meet the cost of the Emergency. The crazy destruction of the Irish whiskey industry, of which DWD was just one victim, has taken decades to reverse, and we are only now beginning to see a real industry emerge once again.

The latest manifestation of this happy recovery is the release of a new whiskey called DWD a few weeks ago.

Today’s DWD is a marketing ploy rather than a direct descendant of the original, but I’m pleased to report that the 21st-Century version is splendid. It has been made from malt and grain whiskeys that have been matured in ex-bourbon American oak casks, and then blended with more malt than grain.

The taste is a rich, warm, nostalgic taste, with notes of fudge, pear, marzipan and white chocolate. Sold in a cheerful bottle that proudly proclaims its Victorian heritage, DWD sells for a reasonable €48 a bottle. Of course, it is impossible to tell now whether the latest whiskey to bear the DWD label is similar to the original, but it is a very fine whiskey, and well worth a taste if you are looking for something different, but clearly Irish.