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 devotion to "pure pot still". In this period, when Irish whiskey was at its zenith, it would have been difficult to imagine that Scotch, then produced by small-scale producers, and almost unheard of outside of Scotland, would soon becomes the world's preeminent drink. Whereas, Irish whiskey, then the world's most popular whiskey, would enter a century of decline, with all of Dublin's great distilleries shutting their doors. So much so, that by the late 20th century, the once popular pure pot still whiskey had almost disappeared entirely, with only two specialist bottlings, Green Spot and Redbreast remaining in existence. However,