The origins of International Irish Whiskey Day™ – 3rd March #irishwhiskeyday
The origins of International Irish Whiskey Day.
With less than a week to go to International Irish Whiskey Day 2022 #irishwhiskeyday on Thursday 3rd March, it’s a nice opportunity to answer the most common question that I get asked about the day which is When was it created? and Why 3rd March each year?
I came up with the idea of Irish Whiskey Day in 2016 while I was working abroad in Bosnia. It struck me that unlike Scotch, which has “World Whisky Day”, there was no actual day dedicated just to Irish Whiskey. But what would be a suitable day of the year to do proper justice to Irish Whiskey??
The numbers 3 and 9 have always been a fun and serendipitous element of my life. My own birthday is in March. I was born in 63. I’ve owned several cars and boats with 999 in the registration. I even had three 9s in my number, (as in “number rank and name“) when I served as a military officer. My cell phone number ends in 111222 which adds up to 9. I’ve lived abroad in several number 9’s at Rue and Strasse this and that. I could go on…..
Maybe 3rd March (3/3) or 9th September (9/9)? In the end, it was an easy decision. 3rd March (or 3/3 for our American readers) is always exactly two weeks to the day before St Patrick’s Day on 17 March each year. 3rd March would present an ideal opportunity to refresh people’s memories and knowledge of Irish Whiskey once a year, exactly two weeks before the really big International Irish Day on 17 March.
3/3 also pays homage to:
3 types of Irish Whiskey (Single Pot Still, Single Malt and Single Grain). A blend is a blend of types not a type!
3 years of maturation to be legally called Irish Whiskey.
3 Distillations in Triple Distillation, long associated with Irish Whiskey.
International Irish Whiskey Day #irishwhiskeyday had a Social Media Reach of over 8 Million in 2020.
Of course there are many other Irish links with 3 including the three leafed Shamrock, Ireland’s most famous symbol and the three colours (Green, White and Orange) of the Irish Tricolour under which I was proud to serve under as an Irish Soldier for over 37 years all around the world. 3rd March was the obvious choice in the end for an annual International Irish Whiskey Day.
I set up a simple social media brand on my phone for fun using #irishwhiskeyday and incredibly, it began to take off. For the first few years, it was just a bit of fun between myself and some whiskey buddies online.
But then in 2020 it began to gain traction. Tourism Ireland rowed in as did a growing number of Irish Whiskey brands. The real launchpad that year was a lovely surprise of an unsolicited online article about International Irish Whiskey Day in the Irish Post. Within just a few days, this article was shared online over one hundred thousand times. By 2021, we had multiple TV features in the USA including Fox TV. See Fox 29 TV International Irish Whiskey Day 2021.
In 2021 #irishwhiskeyday had a Social Media Reach of over 20 Million thank to the support of Tourism Ireland and various major players in the Irish Whiskey and Irish Tourism sectors and International Media.
I noticed also that in the US, they had created a US specific hashtag #nationalirishwhiskeyday to add to the existing social media hashtags of #irishwhiskeyday and #internationalirishwhiskeyday
If your brand or organisation would like to collaborate with or help me to develop and enhance International Irish Whiskey Day, give me a shout at any time.
In the meantime, enjoy Irish Whiskey Day 22 on next Thursday 3rd March and do share your Irish Whiskey Day events, tastings, etc. from whereever you are in the world using:
#internationalirishwhiskeyday
#irishwhiskeyday
and even #nationalirishwhiskeyday.
Enjoy Irish Whiskey Day 22 responsibly.
Sláinte for Stuart!
Stuart McNamara
Editor
International Irish Whiskey Day
Stuart McNamara (@WhiskeyBlogger) is an international Whiskey Blogger who edits several International Whisk(e)y and Whiskey Tourism sites including IrishWhiskey.com and WhiskeyBlogger.com. He is Chair of the Irish Craft And Artisan Distilleries Association (ICADA) and is an elected member of the National Council of ISME, the Irish SME Association. He is also the creator and editor of International Irish Whiskey Day which is celebrated on 3/3 or 3rd March each year and had a global social media reach in 2021 of over 20 Million. He is a Director of Portmagee Whiskey and has also acted as both a brand and product development consultant to several other Irish Whiskey and other spirits producers.
