The Fighting 69th Irish Whiskey makes its official debut this month in New York City and other selected East coast markets including Connecticut, Washington, D.C., Florida and New Jersey, in time to mark the unit’s 170th anniversary. The U.S. Army recognizes December 21, 1849, as the 69th Regiment’s founding date.
The concept for a special Irish whiskey dedicated to the 69th was the brainchild of Colonel (Ret) James Tierney, a former officer in the unit and a Trustee of its non-profit Historical Trust. Having also served for ten years as the 69th Regimental Historian, the idea came to him during one of his many visits to Ireland.
“With our strong Irish heritage, members of the 69th are invited to Waterford, Ireland each year to participate in the annual Tricolour Celebration, which marks the creation in 1848 of the flag that would eventually become the Irish Republic’s National flag,” recalled Tierney.
“It’s been my honor to attend the celebration frequently and a few years ago, while enjoying the festivities with a taste of local whiskey, it occurred to me that the Fighting 69th should have its own Irish whiskey.”
“I approached a few distilleries with the concept and while nearly all expressed some initial interest, nothing really became of it,” Tierney explained.
It was then that fate played a hand in the shape of a special visitor to the 69th Regiment Armory in the Flat Iron section of Manhattan who happened to have a long history in the spirits industry.
“A partner of The Espiritus Group, a spirits development and marketing company, was touring the armory and I mentioned the idea of a Fighting 69th Irish whiskey. He was immediately intrigued, and we set about to make it happen,” said Tierney.
The Fighting 69th Irish Whiskey is being produced in conjunction with the 69th Infantry Regiment Historical Trust, which is a non-profit 501 (c) (3) entity. A portion of the sale of each bottle sold will benefit the trust and support its historic preservation mission as well as philanthropic activities on behalf of the Regiment’s veterans and their families.
“We are excited to be launching this fine Irish whiskey in partnership with the Fighting 69th; putting our sales and marketing capabilities behind this very special brand,” said Jay Maltby, chairman of Espiritus. “This brand will do great things for the 69th Regiment Historical Trust by supporting its overall mission.”
Sourced from Ireland’s finest distilleries, The Fighting 69th Irish Whiskey is triple distilled in copper pot stills and cask-aged in once-used bourbon and sherry barrels on Ireland’s southern coast.
The 69th Infantry Regiment is an infantry regiment of the United States Army. It is from New York City, part of the New York Army National Guard. It is known as the “Fighting Sixty-Ninth,” a name said to have been given by Robert E. Lee during the Civil War.
The 69th Infantry Regiment has a long and storied history. Seven of its members have received the Medal of Honor, an exceptionally large number of recipients for a National Guard Unit.
Its wartime exploits have been memorialized in books and popular culture including the 1940 Warner Brothers movie “The Fighting 69th” starring James Cagney and Pat O’Brien.
Among the more famous members of the unit are William J. “Wild Bill” Donovan who went on to establish the Office of Strategic Services – the precursor of the CIA – during World War II; Joyce Kilmer, the American writer and poet; and Father Francis Patrick Duffy (Fearless Father Duffy) whose statue is in Times Square, and Thomas Francis Meagher, the Irish patriot, who led Meagher’s Irish Brigade during the American Civil War.