Other reputable sources claim that the word whiskey was only incorporated into common parlance as late as the beginning of the 19th Century. This line of whisky logic identifies marketing as the source of the extra “e”. At the time, Dublin whisky producers were considered, and considered themselves, the aristocrats of whiskey distillation. Their worldwide sales justified this attitude. Of course, whisky was also distilled at many an Irish distillery outside of Dublin, as well as throughout Scotland.
To distinguish themselves from their rival Scottish whisky producers and from what they regarded as the coarser and inferior provincial whiskies, the Dublin distillers convened and decided to add an “e” to the name of their products. In wine terms, the Dublin whiskey producers considered their whiskey offering to be the “grand cru”, while the whisky offered by everyone else was seen by them to be “vin ordinaire.” The other Irish distilleries eventually adopted this new naming convention. Thus, whiskey became synonymous with the Irish variety of the spirit.