Irish whiskey, long the poor cousin of Scotch, is finally asserting itself in the liquor market.

May you live to be a hundred years, with one extra year to repent! May the grass grow long on the road to hell for want of use! May your troubles be as few and as far apart as my grandmother''s teeth! As you slide down the banister of life, may the splinters never point the wrong way!

Now, fair readers, you are equipped to hoist your glass with an untied tongue tomorrow, the first St. Paddy''s Day of the new millennium.

If you and Robert Burns are kindred in spirits, that''ll be whiskey in your glass. "Let other poets raise a fracas, ''bout vines, an'' wines, an'' drunken Bacchus!" snorts Burns. For Scotland''s best-loved poet, that would have been, of course, Scotch whiskey in his glass. But since St. Patrick was the Patron Saint of Ireland, if not green beer, the historically correct tipple for today should be Irish.

From what I''m told, Irish whiskies are gaining ground among connoisseurs. Jason Judy is the whiskey connection at Rancho Cellars in Carmel. Not only well-versed in vintner''s terminology, Jason knows his usky. Usky, shortened from the Gaelic usque baugh (oos-keh-baw), eventually became what we know as whiskey--the same stuff that was deemed aqua vitae, the water of life, by the Christian monks credited with coming up with the recipe.

"There''s a small but growing demand for Irish whiskey," Judy contends. "The single malts are more sought after, because when you get into the blended whiskies, they''re easy drinking, but without all the character. An easy way to understand the distinction is to think of it in the way that a connoisseur would consider something labeled ''red wine'' versus ''Cabernet Sauvignon.''"

So, a blended whiskey will be made from a mixture of malted and unmalted barley and other cereal grains; if they''re malted, they''ve been sprouted and kiln-dried, if the whiskey is Irish. "A single malt whiskey will be made with one grain only, either barley or rye," says Judy, "and is a more noble malt, with a more distinct flavor."

A big difference between Irish whiskey and Scotch is the drying of the grain and the resulting nuances of flavor. "Peat is an indigenous part of the earth in Scotland," Judy explains. "It''s very heavy and oily and once it was dried, it was flammable. It was used for roasting the malt, until they found out it was highly carcinogenic. It''s illegal to use now, so they''re using another kind of peat essence instead. And that''s one of the things that can give Scotch its heavier, darker, smokier flavor."

Judy''s colleague and drinking companion, Jason Wachtelhausen, interjects, saying, "In some cases, Irish whiskey is far superior." The two Jasons have spent numerous hours in laboratory research, and announce the results with a scholar''s zeal.

"There''s a perception that Scotch is the better choice because of the cachet of the name," asserts Wachtelhausen. "Since it''s not made in Scotland, Irish whiskey can''t be labeled Scotch. But without a super-refined palate, you may not be able to tell the difference." You will, however, shell out several more pounds for the bottle from Scotland.

Scotch or whiskey, once the malt is dried, the cereal is ground and mixed with pure water. The Irish pride themselves on their pristine underground springs. Then the starch in the mash is converted into a sugary liquid wort that gets separated out and mixed with yeast and fermented. In Ireland, it''s not fit to call whiskey until it''s been distilled three times. As it matures in oak casks, there''s a complex interaction going on between the whiskey, the wood extracts, and the air that breathes through the barrels, making it the magical potion that is feted with lyrical toasts in pubs on every corner, Scottish or Irish.