The distillation of Irish whiskey has a long history, though no one quite knows when it first began. Some sources place it as early as the 6th century when Irish monks brought the distillation process back from the Middle East. While we may never know for sure, the distillation process in Ireland is surely hundreds of years old and we can be thankful for those years of experience and perfection, years that have brought us to the stage we are at today.