What whisk(e)y are we drinking? (Part 2)

Insect Overlord

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123545866#Comment_123545866

You weren't wrong. The cask strength Redbreast 15 is stunning.

DARK-KNIGHT

Bit of good news was given the ok to start having a few whiskeys again.

Going on holiday to turkey Friday week.. What airport whiskeys are great value at the moment?

Looking at the killowen rum and raisin and the peated version aswell…

DARK-KNIGHT

Misserd rb 15 cask strength ffs im raging

Anyone doing a bottle share?

flended12

Is the 3 drams subscription thing I see in social meeeja worth a monthly sub?

https://threedrams.com/ie/

Electric Nitwit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123555552#Comment_123555552

This isn't a useful review to be honest...! I haven't subscribed, but a while back they sold off stock I bought up some of the old boxes. I enjoyed it. Interesting selection of whiskies, generally good, often cask strength. I didn't get to do any of the zoom tastings so don't know what they're like. At €35 a month I wouldn't say it's good value, but it's certainly not a rip off, I think it's down to how much you'd enjoy the experience of it

Black Sheep

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123555529#Comment_123555529

I like the Rum and Raisin and would take a punt on the peated version, yes.

I feel like decent duty free reductions on a lot of the Irish airport offerings these days.

In your situation, returning to whisky, I'd want to come back to something I KNOW I love.

If you really like Redbreast, have you tried the tawny port finish?

Not very similar, but I like everything ive had from Shortcross at the moment too.

If you like a PX finish maybe the Boann PX.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123555552#Comment_123555552

There's different duration subscriptions. There's a small discount if you sign up for 3/6/12 months.
I prefer to sign up monthly, then pause the subscription until I see what next month's samples will be.
There's details on the site about how \ when to do it e.g.

I paused my subscription before May charge date. I re-activated it last week so I'm signed up for June.
I'll pause it again and then on 1st July see what the samples are.

Lester_Burnham

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123555552#Comment_123555552

You can see the March, April, May and June selections on the website. The May or June selections certainly aren't worth €35. March was a teaser to get people on board and April was an OK selection.

odyssey06

I enjoyed the tastings \ chats with the distilleries run by Barry Chandler as part of Three Drams.
I think though for the price the samples should be 50 mls.
It was mentioned on the last call they sent out 600+ packs for May, including some to North America.

Another option with Three Drams is to pick up one of the bottles from the tasting and have a dram of that while watching. Or just something in the same space or distillery. Wild Atlantic IPA is from Kinsale spirits, who also do the Red Earl series.

June (rum cask focus): Copeland Merchant's Quay Single Grain, Grace O'Malley Maritime Cask, Foxes Bow Rum Cask Exclusive.

May was: Wild Atlantic IPA Barrel, Titanic Pot Still Whiskey and Old Comber Irish whiskey.

April was: The Whistler Triple Oak, Bart’s Blended Irish Whiskey and Dingle Single Malt Irish Whiskey.

I think the videos are open to all:

https://threedrams.com/ie/live-tastings/

gordonl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123555622#Comment_123555622

Barry Chandler (of Stories and Sips fame) took over threedrams in March, so he's behind the current push.
You can watch the older livesteams at https://www.youtube.com/%40threedrams482/streams

Threedrams was associated with irishmalts and they would occasionally have older tasting sets for sale. The nice thing with the youtube livesteams is theywould share the discount codes there, so you could use them even if you hadn't bought the set.

I've a bit of a backlog of those sets to workthrough😊

Black Sheep

If you don't pay by the month then it becomes more economical, but it's firmly in the disposable income / bit of craic category. I think anyone who is concerned about it being value for money / a deal on the drams concerned is not the target market. A bit like the Jameson Barrel Club.

I actually don't think the pricing is bad though, considering shipping is included — even when paying by the month…

Wouldn't rule it out as a gift in the future. I'd probably opt for the 3 month package and see how it went.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123556633#Comment_123556633

Yeah, under the old setup, I picked up some interesting Three Drams sets from Irish Malts if I was doing an order and they had sitewide discounts \ free shipping on.

Looking back at that list of videos, they had a Grace O'Malley Maritime Cask in November 2024, seems a bit soon to be returning to it again in June 2024.

Electric Nitwit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123556633#Comment_123556633

Ah, didn't realise that, my opinion is totally void then, definitely on the old basis

Thanks for the link, I've drunk them all now though 🤣

Black Sheep

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123556685#Comment_123556685

Repeating the same dram within a 12 month period, that's no good. TBH any repeat at all, in a tasting model, is a terrible idea.

Lester_Burnham

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123557113#Comment_123557113

Especially as it's a €40 whiskey.

Black Sheep

I suppose curated services will have to have a mixture of whiskies at different price points… Can't all be nice stuff, I guess, something's got to be the lower end offering.

I do note that the Grace O'Malley is aged in "ocean-aged maritime casks". "Seasoned by the Atlantic Ocean for over one year", and they're "charting a new course" for Irish whiskey. Talk about trowelling on the marketing nonsense! Jaysus.

macroxy

Hey folks, hope you don't mind me posting here!

I’ve recently come across a bit of a gem — a Quinn Group 25-Year Celebration Irish Whiskey, sealed and in its original box. It was a limited commemorative release, not available in stores, and has become pretty hard to find these days.

Just wondering if anyone here collects bottles like this, or knows much about its current value? I’ve seen it go at auction for around €180 a few years ago, but this one’s in mint condition — hoping to find it a good home for around €300 or best offer.

Appreciate any insights or interest — happy to share photos or chat details if that’s helpful!

Citizen Six

Picked up a couple of bottles of scotch, while travelling back from the Uk this week. Bowmore 14 Bordeaux cask finish, for €38, and Bunnahabhain An Cladach for €49. I'll wait a couple of weeks before I get a chance to open them.

Hard to resist a litre of Tanqueray for €18, and got a litre of Patron Silver for €45 too.

reactadabtc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123555552#Comment_123555552

I enjoyed it for the 3 months I subscribed. It exposed me to whiskeys I likely wouldn't want otherwise.

I enjoyed the following and will like buy at some stage

• Ttitanic distillers 5 yr old pot still
• The Whistler Triple Oak
• Dingle Distillery Single Malt
• Midleton Very Rare 2024

In fact I would drink any of them, however sadly the only one I didn't like was Two Stacks Fruit drops apple brandy. Which was shame because the founder was on the live stream and was an absolute gent.

SteM

We came back from hols last week and I didn't see see anything either there or in DF that excited me tbh. Maybe I was just sick of spending money :) My wife likes Arehucas rum for some reason so she brought back a bottle of 12yo and 18yo to try, but those bottles will last her for years!

Black Sheep

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123583518#Comment_123583518

I don't think I've ever had a red wine finished peated whisky - let us know how it is.

Black Sheep

I'm going to France on holidays in the coming weeks myself.

Not to a big city area, just a seaside town.

Previous experience is that it can be hard to know what to expect… One year all that was available to buy in the Intermarches and around the place were JW, Chivas and UK/IE high street whiskies… And J&B, of course. It was fine, but not that interesting, if cheap.

Then another year there was a really good equivalent of an off licence (Are they cellars or caves over there, or is that just for wine, can't remember..), and I was spoiled for choice.

The surprise is half the pleasure.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123584368#Comment_123584368

A family member brought me back some 'naggin' size bottles to sample of blended Scotch…

In case you are curious about some of the brands you stumble upon:

William Peel, which is apparently a big seller in France - only drinkable with ice and ginger ale.

Scottish Leader was ok, maybe similar to 'High Commissioner' which is available here.

But you're probably aiming higher than that :)

odyssey06

Saw this on Twitter: https://x.com/Bill_Linnane/status/1938969705064341632

Powerscourt Distillery goes into receivership two days ago and now the news breaks that Diageo have halted production at their Roe & Co Distillery in Dublin

Powerscourt had been in financial trouble previously and the impact of tariffs is casting a new shadow.

https://www.independent.ie/business/whiskey-sour-two-more-high-profile-irish-spirits-brands-halt-production-as-trump-effect-hits-sector/a175082122.html

Citizen Six

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123555530#Comment_123555530

Four bottles went for about €360 each in the auction that finished today. Nice markup for the sellers.

Citizen Six

I bought a few bottles in the Irish Whiskey Auction that ended today. Just set the search to show the lowest priced items, then put a bunch of bids on. Outbid on a lot of them, but ended up with four bottles, for a decent price. Got a Blue Spot for €75, and a Knappogue Castle for below RRP too. Outbid on a Waterford Ratheadon I was after. But I still have plenty from a bottle of 1.1 that I picked up in a previous auction, before they got into trouble.

Black Sheep

I've arranged to get hold of bottles of both the new Hinch single malt, and the peated single malt. I'm not quite sure how they can offer it at the price they are, but I thought I might as well get in there before a receivership is announced for them too.. (Is it too early to joke about what's going on?).

Finishing off a bottle of Nikka From The Barrel.

The 51.4% ABV is near-perfect for me. When in the mood, I can drink it neat. If I do want to get it down to 45 or 46%, there merest dribble of water is enough.

I've seen it speculated that the 51.4% ABV has in mind the Japanese salaryman who might chuck in a single ice-cube. Not sure that such things are ever planned out to that degree, but it's a nice idea, even though I wouldn't do it personally.

the beer revolu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123603298#Comment_123603298

If it was 30c and no a/c, a bit of ice would cool down a whisky nicely. I've sometimes found that spirits on uplighted shelves in bars to be far too warm for serving (particularly in summer). I've put a cube of ice in whiskies from bars, purely because they were lukewarm.

the beer revolu

Tasted the Achill Island peated Irish whiskey, cask strength.

Very light, elegant, not very peaty at all. A nicely put together drop with no rough edges. Maybe a little tame, flavourwize. Carried its 60% well. I liked it. Bottle is like a Bushmills bottle on steroids!

flended12

Love hearing about irish peaty stuff, keep the info coming!