In 1663 (or sometime around then), the Irish Government held a meeting on how to make Irishmen's lives more miserable. They knew that Poitin was very popular so they decided to ban it. This lead to suicide, emo, riots, a dangerously high level of sobriety, self-harm, assassinations, bombs, etc., etc but the Irish government still got its way. The prohibition also made Poitin more popular than ever; as the saying goes: "The more illegal it is, the better it tastes!"