Irish Whiskey. A History of Distilling , the Spirit Trade and Excise Controls in Ireland. Illustrated. Dublin: Gill, 1973. First Edition. Pp xiv, 462. A nice bright copy in pictorial dust jacket.

One the most accurate and detailed history of Irish whiskey written to date. McGuire work remains indispensable, piecing together the industry’s grand narrative from its monastic and guild origins, through its golden age of massive commercial expansion, to its devastating decline. 

Includes chapters on: The Distillery Process, The Distillery Apparatus, Assessing Spirit, The Excise Administration, Early History [of Irish Whiskey], The Middle Period 1780-1823, The Nineteenth Century 1823-1900, The Present Century [20th century], Distillers Past and Present, and Illicit Distillation.