The origins of the phrase “the real McCoy”, meaning the genuine article, is disputed, but one branch of the debate centres on William ‘Bill’ McCoy.
The Prohibition-era bootlegger was famed for smuggling high-quality, uncut liquor into the United States in the 1920s.
McCoy’s method – known as the “Rum Row” – was to station a larger ship just beyond the 5km US territorial limit, which would then supply smaller, high-powered boats that could outrun the US coast guard.
The quality of his name-brand Scotch and authentic Barbados Rum was so revered that people began using the term “the real McCoy” to describe genuine alcohol products.
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At the time, the US market was saturated with dangerous counterfeit products, many purporting to be genuine Irish whiskey.
Raw industrial alcohol coloured with caramel, a potentially lethal concoction, was frequently passed off as Irish whiskey, making many Americans suspicious of the brand altogether.
“The real McCoy” phrase probably has an earlier incarnation.
“The real Mackay” was an advertising slogan used by G Mackay and Co whisky distillers in Edinburgh in 1870. This may have fallen out of use before being revived by McCoy’s smuggling antics.
The proliferation of counterfeit Irish whiskeys during Prohibition in the US was one of several damaging reversals that punctured Irish whiskey’s once-dominant position.
Irish whiskeys commanded 60 to 70 per cent of global whiskey sales at the end of the 19th century.
Dublin was the focal point of the industry, housing, by the standards of the time, massive distilleries including Jameson, Powers and Roe’s, which were collectively known as the “Golden Triangle”.
But the War of Independence and the State’s subsequent exit from the British Empire, US prohibition, the refusal of Irish distillers to adopt newer technologies, and the abstinence movement (which eroded the domestic market) sent the industry into near-terminal decline.
Scotland’s producers seized the opportunity, ramping up global exports. In some countries, Scotch became synonymous with whiskey.
Irish whiskey, as a percentage of global sales, fell to just 2 per cent by the 1980s.
The industry has undergone something of a renaissance since.
A total of 16 million cases (194 million bottles) of Irish whiskey were sold worldwide in 2024. This is thought to represent a 7 to 12 per cent global market share in value terms.
The number of distilleries here has also grown, from just four in 2010 to around 50 now. But the brand still lives in the shadow of Scotch, which commands 33 per cent of the global whiskey market.
All of which brings us to last week’s European Union-India trade deal, which on paper at least appears to give Irish whiskey a competitive advantage over its Scottish rival by cutting EU import tariffs in the world’s biggest whiskey market from 150 per cent to 40 per cent over a phased seven-year period.
Under the UK-India trade deal, Scotch will get the same tariff reduction but over a 10-year period, giving Irish producers a three-year head start.
Industry insiders, however, caution that by the time the EU deal is ratified (it may take 18 months), the three-year head start afforded Irish producers might not amount to much as the UK-India trade deal was agreed last year and may be rubber-stamped sooner.
Either way, Scottish producers won’t exactly be quaking in their distillery wellies at the notion of Irish whiskey getting a leg up.
Scotch outsells Irish whiskey in India by a margin of 20-to-one. There were 190 million bottles of Scotch sold there in 2024 versus 8.4 million bottles of Irish whiskey.
That said, Irish whiskey sales in India are on the up. They surpassed 700,000 cases in 2024, a 57.5 per cent growth year-on-year, and a 900 per cent increase since 2020.
“The smooth taste of our premium product is finding its home among India’s wide consumer base, eager to try new categories,” the head of the Irish Whiskey Association, Eoin Ó Catháin, said, saying the Irish variant was smoother and lighter than many Indian and Scotch variants.
“This offers a strong base from which to grow. Deals like the one announced last week between the EU and India will be crucial to that,” he said.
The EU-India trade deal was fast-tracked by two sides in the cross hairs of Washington’s US tariffs bazooka and represents something of a two fingers not just to the US but also to China, India’s principal trade rival.
But Irish whiskey’s renaissance has, to this point, been based – primarily – on growing market share in the US. On the basis of recent sales trends, Irish whiskey had been predicted to overtake Scotch in the US by 2030, but that was before tariffs and a pronounced cost-of-living crisis hit.
“The global whiskey market faced a challenging year, especially in the US, where Irish whiskey exports declined by 5 per cent [in 2025],” Bord Bia said in its latest export performance report.
A 12 per cent devaluation of the dollar, making imports more expensive for US consumers, hasn’t helped either.
The “premiumisation” trend, particularly in aged and single-malt whiskeys, is the key growth area (and one Irish brands do well in), but it is also a segment that requires careful pricing and supply management, particularly in the current climate.
