Irish Whiskey Society, Galway Branch

IrishWhiskeyCha

Calling all whiskey fans ...

Hi All, I have been involved in the set up of the newly formed Irish Whiskey Society. We are just barely off the ground but still crying out for new members. However it currently is mainly a Dublin based operation and I'm in Galway so looking for a few Galway people to come on board and hopefully we could get a Galway branch going.

There is so much more to whiskey than Paddy, Powers and Jameson and anybody who has taken the step up to Jameson 12 or even a few scotch knows that there is far greater whiskies to be tasted out there. There is a multitude of different tasting whiskies out there from all the Irish through US (Bourbon , rye etc) Japanese and of course the multi layered scotch industry with it's fabulous array of blends and single malts.

Basically the aim of the society is to appreciate and learn about whiskey in all it's forms and guises in a friendly and social atmosphere. We are open to young and old, male and female and hope to dispense with the old fuddy duddy image that whiskey may have with some. Instead it is an exciting and vibrant topic for discussion, whether you are into the diversity of taste, technicalities of production or the whole history of the spirit.

Further, through tastings organised by the group it is a way to explore more whiskies at a reduced cost. It can be an expensive hobby if you have to buy a bottle every time you wanted to taste a new whisk(e)y.

If you are interested please feel free to contact me through this forum by PM or through the Irish Whiskey Society Forum or even through my own amateur website IrishWhiskeyChaser which if you are not au fait with irish Whiskey you may be surprised by the varity of Iriah Whiskey's that have beed produced. This may take some time to organise though so your patience is appreciated.

Please be aware that we are a responsible society and do not encourage abuse of alcohol and tasting would not normally feature full measures. A top of the range bottle whiskey could easily cost 400Euro. One of our mottos is Quality over Quantity So if your looking to kick start the night with a bang we may not be for you.

However we are up for the crack and a bit of social interaction and if people want to go for pints after that is fine.

ScumLord

I love whiskey but I always wake up in a ball the next morning, covered in all sorts of strange injuries. God knows what I do be up to, once I found a crab in bits in me kitchen. How I got a crap at 3 o'clock in the morning in the 60 miles from the ocean I'll never know.

JohnCleary

Do you have a Whiskey DRINKING Society? If so, i'm in

IrishWhiskeyCha

JohnCleary wrote: »

Do you have a Whiskey DRINKING Society? If so, i'm in

Yes that is the whole idea but we won't be necking it by the bottle

Basically a way of getting to taste many different whiskies whether it be Irish, Scotch , US or Japanese. There are also whiskies from Canada, India, Sweden, New Zeeland, Australia and Germany amongst others. As we get established we possibly could taste some really expensive ones without breaking the bank but that would be only for people really interested.



To give you an example.

To go through an introductory tasting of 6 bog standard Irish whiskies of say Bushmills White, Jameson, Kilbeggan, Paddy, Powers & Tullamore Dew you would pay anywhere between 20-25Euro in the pub. We'd hope to do it for 10Euro which would possibly gain a 2.50Euro profit per person. However as it will be done on a non profit basis any extra monies collected will be invested in the next tasting so we could build up a kitty to enable us to do better bottles for cheaper.

Further, if say we had the Jameson Rarest Vintage which retails at 400Euro a bottle and has a pub price of at least 50Euro a measure we would hope to be able to provide it for as little 10Euro a measure.

And that in a nut shell is the whole idea behind the society. To get to try some great whiskey at an affordable price to all.

JohnCleary

Sounds cool, would ye be sourcing in bulk or what? Would ye be paying retail for the stuff?

Any locations in mind or do you have to rent out a room each time?

I'd love to do it but the only thing I know about whiskey is it makes me :P - I'd feel a right prat coming along not even knowing what i'm supposed to be tasting in me pallette!

[-0-]

Count me in good sir!

IrishWhiskeyCha

JohnCleary wrote: »

Sounds cool, would ye be sourcing in bulk or what? Would ye be paying retail for the stuff?

Retail from Shops usually but in getting this going we would hope that the retail and pub sector will support us as it will help in their sales in the long run so possible a few freebies every now and then or even the distilleries will come and talk to us and give us the expert view.

JohnCleary wrote: »

Any locations in mind or do you have to rent out a room each time?

No not yet but some one has already been on to me in relation to possible locations. It would need to be fairly central though.

JohnCleary wrote: »

I'd love to do it but the only thing I know about whiskey is it makes me :P - I'd feel a right prat coming along not even knowing what I'm supposed to be tasting in me pallette!

The one thing to remember about whiskey is there is no right or wrong when it comes to tasting. We all have different tastes so we all can take something different from the same whiskey. I suppose it can be a bit intimidating if your not used to it but the idea is to get a friendly open welcoming bunch together and not an elite group.

It probably will be a while before we can get organised though as I we would need to get a decent group of people together to make it work 20-30 with te hope of having at least 15 at each tasting.

ScumLord

JohnCleary wrote: »

Any locations in mind or do you have to rent out a room each time?

Men + rented room + whiskey= recipe for disaster.

JohnCleary

ScumLord wrote: »

Men + rented room + whiskey= recipe for disaster.

All we're missing is strippers

ScumLord

JohnCleary wrote: »

All we're missing is strippers

That's a recipe for win.

IrishWhiskeyCha

Very funny lads ... ha ha ha (laughter totally toned with large amounts of dead pan sarcasm)

Sorry to burst your bubble but this is not meant to be a Men's club and it is actually something we are actively trying to dispel about whiskey ... all are welcome and we encourage women to take part. Women are more suited to the tasting side as they have much better noses and tasting skills than men in general.


But, Okay since you brought it up ... SL & JC can volunteer to be the first strippers after the tasting ... it may even entice a few women along.

Away for the rest of the week-end so catch up Monday if more people post.

Sarky

This interests me. This interests me greatly.