Paddy Whiskey

Brand of blended Irish whiskey

Paddy is a brand of blended Irish whiskey produced by the Sazerac Company. As of 2016, Paddy is the fourth largest selling Irish whiskey in the World.

The Cork Distilleries Company was founded in 1867 to merge four existing distilleries in Cork city (the North Mall, the Green, Watercourse Road, and Daly's) under the control of one group. A fifth distillery, the Midleton distillery, joined the group soon after in 1868. In 1882, the company hired a young Corkman called Paddy Flaherty as a salesman. Flaherty travelled the pubs of Cork marketing the company's unwieldy named "Cork Distilleries Company Old Irish Whiskey". In 1912, with his name having become synonymous with the whiskey, the distillery officially renamed the whiskey Paddy Irish Whiskey in his honour. To prevent fluctuations in quality due to middlemen diluting their casks, Cork Distilleries Company decided to bottle their own whiskey known as Paddy, becoming one of the first to do so. In 2016, Pernod Ricard sold the Paddy brand to Sazerac, a privately held American firm for an undisclosed fee. In 2020, Paddy's was named the Best Blended Irish Whiskey at the International Whiskey Competition. The whiskey also earned a silver medal and second place for Best Irish Whiskey at the event.

Paddy whiskey is distilled three times and matured in oak casks for up to seven years. Compared with other Irish whiskeys, Paddy has a comparatively low pot still content and a high malt content in its blend. Jim Murray, author of the Whiskey bible, has rated Paddy as "one of the softest of all Ireland's whiskeys".