This thesis demonstrates how the evolution and direction of the Irish distilling industry was determined by a number of influences including legislation, political expediency, revenue maximisation and technical advances. The relationship is shown by examining the growth, consolidation and eventual decline of the spirit distilling industry in the Naas revenue collection district. The thesis consists of a two-part examination of the subject. Part one discusses the major influences shaping Irish distilling. Part two seeks evidence for the effects of these influences in the history of distilling in the Naas revenue collection district. In part one the initial chapter examines the political origins of the excise while chapter two explores the country-wide administrative structures and enabling legislation which ensured the assessment of excise liabilities and the secure remittance of the resulting revenue to the treasury. Chapter three examines examples of the technology employed by the excise to support revenue collection. Part two of the thesis traces distilling in the Naas excise collection area. The initial chapter in this section (chapter four) is devoted to the eighteenth century when distilling consisted of many successful family-run craft concerns which later evolved into a smaller number of larger industrial-scale distilleries. The means by which the authorities managed the industry in the Naas excise collection are reviewed in chapter five, which examines the revenue administration in this area. The location of distilling enterprises during the nineteenth century is described in chapter six and the principle families involved are identified. Chapter seven provides an insight into the later nineteenth century when pressures concerning product specifications and quality emerged. These eventually led to the patenting of a novel distillation technique and so furthered demands for a legal definition for Irish whiskey.