Our founder, Jay Bradley, recently chatted with the Belfast Telegraph’s Gary Law about The Emerald Isle, his innovative methods, and how he came to own a whiskey company like The Craft Irish Whiskey Co. 

As Gary notes, Jay started on a high with the sale of the company’s inaugural release, The Devil’s Keep, at auction for a record-breaking $60,000 in 2020. But it was The Emerald Isle that, in Gary’s words, went stratospheric. The first collection attracted record-breaking interest at auction in March 2021 with bidders clamouring to own the world’s rarest and oldest triple distilled single malt. When the hammer finally came down, The Emerald Isle had fetched a staggering $2,000,000, making it the most expensive whiskey in the world. But a collection soon to be auctioned is expected to reach $3,500,000. The article points out that Jay didn’t intend to start a whiskey company, but his past experience brought him to this point. From owning a bar in New Zealand to taking part in world championship BBQ competitions, his experience with spirits and wood have come together to result in world-class, world-record-breaking, and World Whiskies award-winning single malts. It’s this experience, and an obsessive drive for perfection, that have led him to create the innovative methods of maturation that have produced whiskeys such as The Devil’s Keep, The Emerald Isle, The Brollach and now, The Taoscán. 

Released on St Patrick’s Day 2022, The Taoscán is a blend of single malt finished in French Oak casks that once held Tawny Port, and virgin French Chestnut casks. Not only is it the first whiskey of its kind in the world, it’s also the first of our whiskeys to be available by the glass at 5* establishments such as The Ned, The Hand and Flowers and Frog by Adam Handling. With only 1,000 Collector’s Editions released for sale to the public through our website, and just 3,000 available to bars and restaurants, this is yet another of our award-winning whiskeys that won’t be around for long. 

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