You hear a lot about authenticity in Irish whiskey ads these days. About just how Irish and just how independent and just how old-school certain Irish whiskeys are. There's a lot of money being spent to convince people of this fact. With Irish whiskey gaining such market pull and popularity these days, it's understandable that its marketing is going to take off, with big-budget corporate slogans advertising authenticity adorning billborards, bus stops, subways, and so on. The problem, however, is simple: there's a really big secret at the core of this culture of authenticity that is at the same time very public and very guarded by most people who are in the know.

The secret is that nearly all Irish whiskeys on the market today, which all strive to construct an advertising (and therefore, a revenue) empire out of being so authentically Irish, are all owned by corporate beverage conglomerates - that is to say, nearly none of them are authentically Irish owned. That's not to say that the most popular Irish whiskeys aren't Irish and aren't good - they are all distilled on the Emerald Isle, and in nearly every case are truly delicious spirits - but it certainly puts a twist on those big-dollar marketing campaigns.

In truth, there's only one Irish whiskey maker in all of Ireland, and, in following that logic, the world, that has maintained a completely Irish-owned, non-corporate authenticity. That whiskey maker is Cooley Distillery in County Louth, Ireland, a distillery which is proud to hold that distinction. What makes it even more mind-boggling is that they don't really tend to advertise, at least not on the international, multimillion-dollar ad campaign scale of its competitors. But of course, to Cooley, this is just another point of pride.

Stephen Teeling, Cooley's brand manager and son of the distillery's founder, John Teeling, is happy to report that they're not a corporate mega-entity, because after all, who wants to be? "Quality's our main concern here," Teeling says with a chuckle. "Who can compete with those ad campaigns? Our focus is making a superior product that Irish whiskey drinkers will love."

It's an ethos that any whiskey fan can respect - putting quality first and foremost is essentially the most anyone can ask of their distillers, isn't it? Their authenticity and originality, while admittedly a strength, is also in a way, a marketing strategy.

"Everyone's had the big labels," Teeling says, not unkindly, but with a certain humor as well. "It's what people looking for Irish whiskey order. But that's just the problem - everyone's had it. People are looking for something new, something maybe a little lesser known. They're looking to be able to talk about where their drink comes from."

Of course, it's not just that they're non-corporate and Irish owned and operated that makes Cooley special. What truly sets Cooley apart is their whiskey. Utilizing an unconventional and wholly unique double-distillation process (as compared to the triple-distillation method more commonly associated with Irish whiskey), Cooley has managed to make a name for themselves with their whiskey. Under their belt, they currently have four separate, distinct labels of Irish whiskey in production at Cooley Distillery: Kilbeggan Blended, The Tyrconnell Single Malt, Greenore Single Grain, and Connemara Peated Single Malt.

Now, two of those labels might sound familiar - The Tyrconnell and Kilbeggan are long-standing labels with a long history that have unfortunately experienced something of a pointed decline in the past fifty or so years. However (and fortunately for the fine folks at Cooley), it's the historic value in these labels that inspired Cooley to pick up these old-school brands and revitalize them into the premium spirits that they are today.

Kilbeggan, Cooley's multiple award-winning blended Irish whiskey, traces its heritage back to the Old Kilbeggan Distillery, the oldest physically licensed distillery in the world, dating all the way back to 1757. Having recently celebrated its two hundred and fiftieth anniversary, Cooley released a fifteen year-old super-premium edition of Kilbeggan, which netted the "World's Best Blended Irish Whiskey" award at the 2008 World of Whiskies Awards.

Tyrconnell, Cooley's other historic label, is a single malt Irish Whiskey that happens to be named after a horse. The Watt family, the previous owners of The Tyrconnell, named their whiskey thusly after a legendary horse race in which The Tyrconnell, the Watts' horse, won at odds of 100 to 1. The whiskey itself, another Cooley award winner, has also come to be known for being somewhat experimental, special editions being released with port, sherry, and madiera finishes.

These historic "brand anchors," as Teeling refers to them, comprise only half of Cooley's output. The other two labels, Connemara and Greenore, are just as unique as any other spirit on the market today.

Connemara is a whiskey category unto itself, as it is the only peated single malt Irish whiskey currently on the market. Aside from this distinction, it is a multiple gold medal award winning spirit and comes in a variety-laden family of different whiskeys. Greenore, the single grain whiskey from Cooley, is similar to Connemara only in that it's a true original. Made from maize grain and matured in single-used bourbon casks, it's been released in limited quantities, and this medal-winner is clearly becoming the standard for Cooley's releases.

With these four labels, Cooley has truly etched a name for itself in the world of Irish whiskey. A family business through-and-through, Cooley is one of the most ingenuitive and original distilleries on the market today, and let us not forget, the most authentic.