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 only other remaining Irish operation, Bushmills, so that by the mid-1970s there were only two whiskey distilleries in operation in Ireland, the New Midleton Distillery and the Old Bushmills Distillery, both owned by Irish Distillers, and with only one of these having operated during Irish whiskey's golden years. Production reached a nadir at about 400,000–500,000 cases per annum during this period, down from a height of 12 million cases around 1900. The late 1980s saw the beginnings of a long and slow resurgence in the Irish whiskey industry, with the establishment of the Cooley Distillery in 1987, and Pernod Ricard's