The blue dwarf looking up the mountain as the wooden mine cart lift worked its way slowly up it, the wind starting to howl as it rolled down the countryside.
The idea came to him to capture the wind's sound as a gift for the creature they were on the way to visit, confusing his two companions.
How does someone capture the sound of the wind?
"See, dwarven magic's all about the intangibles.
The relationship between the stuff what you can touch, and what you can't.
It's about understanding...
The Nature of a thing is more important than the form of a thing."
— Brok, God of War: Ragnarök
Let me tell you a Whiskey...
Once upon a time Irish whiskey ruled the world. The home of Pure Pot Still Whiskey was unwavering in their commitment to their ideal of quality and what whiskey really was. When the English imposed a tax on malted barley the Irish countered by creating a whiskey unique to their island that used malted and unmalted barley as well as a variety of other grains. What started as a thumb in the eye to the crown became a happy accident as the unmalted grains added flavors not usually in their normal whiskey.
At one point in the mid 1800s there were over 1000 registered whiskey distilleries in Ireland and estimated to have twice that many illegal stills operating and by the late 1800s up to 70% of the world's whiskey was Irish.
But this was not to last...
Somewhere between tragedy and comedy the events that unfolded over 100 years in Ireland eroded slowly at the roots of the once great industry.
Distilleries shunned the idea of the Coffey still when it was presented to them in the 1830s, not only because they did not think it was what Irish whiskey should be, but they also didn't care for the taste.
The Great Famine killing 15% of the population in the 1840s and a mass exodus of many families off the Emerald Isle and by the 1860s around 50% of Irish distilleries had closed their doors.
The 20th century brought with it World War 1, followed by the Irish War of Independence, American Prohibition, and then the Anglo-Irish trade war in the 1930s cutting off most of the world to Irish goods.
Every time a gap was created, every decision, every turning point where Irish whiskey stayed the course, Blended Scotch took advantage of. Able to produce a lighter spirit than standard whiskey and on a continuous basis at a lower price point the blended whiskies poured into American, British, and European markets. What the Irish had once dismissed as "silent spirit" was now the dominant force in whiskey.
Where there were once thousands of distilleries making Irish whiskey...by the end of the 19th century only 30 some remained.
And by the 1960s....there were 3.
By this point in history not even the Irish government supported the Irish distillers. They were said to have considered nationalizing the industry for the failure of the distilleries to adopt the column still and create blended whiskies. At this point Scotland's whisky exports were 64 times larger than Ireland and they even sent the heads of the distilleries on a tour of America and elsewhere for them to see how little was known about Irish whiskey.
In 1961, John Powers distillery installed a column still to make vodka and gin...and start to "experiment" with column whiskey.
But it was too little too late and in 1966 the heads of the 3 remaining distilleries met together, John Power & Son, John Jameson & Son, and Cork Distilleries Company. They all saw the writing on the wall and finally agreed to put aside their differences and join forces to survive and created the Irish Distiller Limited company. Six years later, Bushmills, the only Northern Ireland distillery operating joined them as well. They built a new distillery in Midleton and began to shutter their family distilleries, open for generations in cities like Dublin.
In the 1975 it was decided they needed to start removing focus on all their various brands and instead choose one brand to get behind, one to push into the global market. Based on market research, even though the most popular brand in Ireland was Power's whiskey, Jameson was the most recognizable in the global market. Why?
Because the bottle was green.
And so the brands of the famous houses were put aside, some were still made for local consumption but not export and single minded focus of IDL was on this blended whiskey.
Within 10 years only 2 Pure Pot Still Irish whiskies remained on the market, both sourced from Midleton...and the Redbreast brand too ceased leaving only a small brand, Mitchell and Son, with their Spot whiskies still selling the once coveted and iconic water of life.
If to add insult to injury, companies from the UK attempted a hostile takeover of IDL, the company sought help from a white knight in the form of French company Pernod Richard in 1988.
The French doubled down on the Jameson marketing, focusing on the Triple Distilled nature vs the heavier Scotch, offering it as a substitute in any Scotch drink. While once the Pure Pot Still Irish whiskey was known for its rich, heavy, oily flavors, now it was trying to squeeze into the market by being one shade removed from pure Vodka.
But...slowly...ever so slowly, there was progress. Sales began to increase and in 1987 the first Irish distillery to open in 100 years was created in Cooley Distillery. With Jameson now spreading throughout the world and the green bottle still making it easy to find on a crowded bar or a packed restaurant their plans worked. As sales increased it increased the ability for other distilleries to break ground and for IDL to expand their portfolio beyond just Jameson blended Irish. In 1991, IDL relaunched the Redbreast line, bringing back Pure Pot Still Irish whiskey to a major distillery.
From 3 distilleries 60 years ago to nearly 40 today and growing, Irish whiskey is considered the fastest growing whiskey category in the world. For many, this is called the Renaissance of Irish Whiskey, as new craft distilleries bring back forgotten mash bills, production techniques, and products. Waterford Distillery focuses on terroir and the impact of the various barley farms around Ireland. And even giant IDL/Midleton has created a small experimental brand named Method & Madness to keep pushing the boundaries of Irish Whiskey.
So what changed?
For 100 years, Irish distilleries fiercely fought for the identity of Irish Whiskey, it was pot stilled, it was heavier, oilier, more flavorful. They called it the best whiskey in the world and protected it as such.
But what they were fighting for was just the Form of Irish Whiskey...they failed to protect the Nature of it.
For them Pure Pot Still whiskey wasn't about the unmalted grains, or the pot still, or the flavor profile...it was their history, their culture, the parts of themselves that were sent out into the world and the world took notice.
But that was just the Form of those things...not the Nature.
It wasn't until 3 distilleries sat in a room and realized they might as well try something different before they all went under that they finally focused on the right things. Irish Whiskey had to survive, the Nature of it, the story of their people, the history of their families, the product that they put their very souls into. None of the rest mattered...because everything else was just Form.
Blended whiskey was a Form.
Family Distilleries closing were a Form.
Shelving their brands in favor of Jameson were just Forms.
And like a seed waiting for the right conditions, once the Nature of Irish Whiskey had been reestablished it began to take many Forms, and continues to this day with new Forms we never dreamed of...all of them Irish Whiskey.
And that is how a Green Bottle saved Irish Whiskey...but that was just its Form.