National symbols of Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland with Jameson Irish Whiskey and Tullamore Dew the main whiskey brands. Poitín, made from potatoes and with an alcohol content of up to 90% ABV, is the traditional Irish moonshine, brewed illegally since 1661, when a duty was placed on whiskey and other spirits were made illegal. According to one guidebook, ""If you see a product labelled "poteen" in an airport or a bar, it's simply a white duty-paid Irish schnapps. By definition, poteen is illegal and can't be sold."" Stout, a dark beer made using roasted oats or barley, is the national beer, with Guinness heavily promoted as a
Irish whiskey World's largest whiskey producer. When Alfred Barnard, a British historian, published his account of the distilleries of Britain and Ireland in 1887, there were 28 distilleries in operation in Ireland. By the 1960s, there was only a handful of these remaining in operation, and in 1966, three of these (John Jameson, Powers, and Cork Distilleries Company) chose to amalgamate their operations under the name of Irish Distillers and to close their existing facilities and concentrate their operations in a new purpose-built facility to be constructed beside the Old Midleton Distillery in Co. Cork. In 1972, these were joined by the