Single Pot Still Whiskey

Single pot still whiskey is a phrase used by the Irish whiskey industry and in Irish whiskey criticism to describe a particular style of whiskey made from a mixed mash of malted barley and unmalted "green" barley in a pot still. This type of whiskey has also been referred to as pure pot still whiskey, "Irish style pot still whiskey", or, especially in Ireland, simply as "pot still whiskey"; the current term came into use on some labels around 2010, and many old bottles of the style are labeled with older terminology. The newer term was brought into use when the US Tax and Trade Bureau objected to the use of the term 'pure' in the marketing name for such a product. In some locations including the US, the term "pure pot still whiskey" remained in current use as of 2011 for the marketing of at least one Irish whiskey (due to being "grandfathered" as a labelling term for a previously-existing product brand name); however, its maker indicated a plan to transition to the new term for all product labels.

One Irish distillery, the New Midleton Distillery owned by the Irish Distillers unit of Pernod-Ricard, currently uses the term for marketing some whiskey brands such as Redbreast and Green Spot. Two others, Cooley and Kilbeggan, both owned by Beam Inc., make a single pot still spirit that is too young to qualify as 'whiskey' and has only been sold as newmake spirit or un-aged "poitín". The fourth Irish distillery (the Old Bushmills Distillery) does not make a mixed-mash pot still product.

The term should not be confused with the theoretical concept of whiskey produced solely in a pot still (which would also apply to single malt whiskey as well as some examples of pot still bourbon and rye whiskey).