By Kirk Miller I used to believe Irish whiskey was a gateway whiskey. It’s a smooth sipper. It’s relatively inexpensive — at least the stuff I was drinking — and it goes great in cocktails, particularly an Irish coffee. But I never gave the category enough credit, even though the Irish invented whiskey and an NYC bar pretty much devoted to the tipple — and walking distance from my apartment — kept winning World’s Best Bar awards. Thankfully, I, along with the rest of the country, have caught up. According to the Distilled Spirits Council, U.S. consumer interest in the Irish Whiskey category is…