Scary times.
First Waterford, then Blackwater, then Powerscourt 🫣
There's only so much whiskey the market can (or maybe should) drink. These are for the most part priced at the premium end of the spectrum, and not all would merit that. When you've got shelf upon shelf of often young spirit with not much track record in fancy bottles, if somebody forks out €60 plus and gets disappointed a couple of times, are they going to be less likely to do it a 3rd time?
Ignoring for a minute the likes of the Redbreasts and Spots that have been around a while, Scotch has the benefit of familiarity in that distilleries would have their 10/12/14/16 yo regular offerings that have been a constant for decades, and which were very good value until relatively recently, so you have some sort of idea what to expect from different bottlings.
Just my 2c, I do like some of the newer Irish offerings, but at the asking price, they're certainly not an everyday tipple.
Was just finishing my Waterford Luna I got a few months back as an anniversary gift from the missus.
While it didn't blow me away, I quite enjoyed it but the glass cap infuriated me.. the rubber seal was really not sufficient to twist it off so ended up having to pull with force.
Lo-and-behold, this finally happened..
.. was literally a thimble full left so was happy to chuck it and not risk inhaling a small shard / particle.
Was gonna send them an email with feedback and then noticed they must be in bother financially.
Shame to see!
You generally don’t twist, or pull, those types of stoppers. You push it with your thumb, and it should pop off easily.
Yeah, there's a knack. You don't try to push it up, you push it kind of laterally and it clicks. Then I comes out really easy. It's actual very satisfying when you know how to open them. I really like those stoppers.
https://youtube.com/shorts/WptTeOKhNjA?si=pkm6vv9nGLEVZ205
Yeah, I've seen them a lot in France, and keep a bunch of them around the house. It was a nice touch when I saw Waterford using them.
Just to add : I found them frustrating until someone showed me how to use them, too.
Yeah, a bottle stopper that people need instructions for is a bit daft if you ask me.
I completely get you but there is a beauty to them both visually and physically (once you learn how). Also, we still accept wine corks as a normal thing. Imagine trying to open one of them without knowledge and the right tool! And don't get me started on waxed closures!
Hi lads, I've a couple of unopened bottles I'd like to move on.
Can I offer them for sale here?
If not, is there anywhere else that I could sell them?
The bottles are a Jack Daniels Sinatra Select & Jameson Black Barrel.
Thanks.
Thank you for that - I had to go and grab a bottle to try it and it is very satisfying (I left what's in it intact as the sun is still the wrong side of the yardarm 😁) The glass stoppers were driving me demented - I've had expensive liquid slosh out, though I've never had one shatter let the previous poster
Warning to everyone, don't leave Angela Rayner unattended near your whiskey stash.
Angela does have a bit of a taste for the finer things in life, notwithstanding her working class credentials, but I suppose that should make her less likely to accidentally open someone else's bottle of fine whiskey…
I'm doubtful that anecdote is true to be honest. Maybe there's a grain of truth, but I suspect it's been blown up for the sake of humanising both of them.
What was the whisky?!!!
Ah yeah, absolutely. They're lovely yokes.
Completely agree about corks as well, although I do enjoy opening them far more than a twist cap. The suction pop is extremely satisfying. I love when self appointed wine snobs get snotty about corks and show themselves up to be utter imbeciles. I remember working in a decent Italian restaurant in Belfast the guts of 20 years ago. Grand aul place but far from fine dining or the height of sophistication. Table of six or so came in and ordered a mid range bottle, which happened to be a twist cap. Let them try it, as is still customary, and the lady who had a sip immediately started making faces and insisted a few others try it. They'd probably had about a quarter of the bottle before insisting they didn't like it and asking for it to be brought back and swapped for another. I asked was there anything wrong with it and started to explain that the purpose of tasting the wine was to make sure there was no fault with it before a manager jumped in and told me to just sort them out. I came back up a few mins later with their (cheaper) bottle. "Oh good! At least that one has a cork in it". Gobshites.
I also remember working in a real working man's golf club and the same time. Far, far from a country club. The most expensive spirit we might have sold was Black Bush. The regular ones were Smirnoff, Vladivar, Bush, Jameson and Bacardi.
This absolute show pony came up and asked did I not have Grey Goose. He was a big fan of Grey Goose, so he was. Got a taste for drinking it out in Dubai, so he did etc etc. Wouldn't **** up for about two or three mins. Then finally just went "ok, just give me two vladivars with red bull".
Grey Goose does really pull out the subtle notes in a Redbull, to be fair.
Important to let it breathe a few minutes as well, really opens it up.
Opened up my Shortcross 7 year old Cognac and orange liquer cask finish.
It's a batshit crazy whisky. A peated jaffa cake in a bottle. Don't even think about it unless that immediately appeals.
The peat OR the orange liqueur element could be a deal breaker... together... well, twice as divisive, I suspect. This will be marmite for people.
It's quite heavily peated as well... Reminds me of a number of Islay distilleries.
The cognac not really coming through for me.
Do I like it? I do.
However, I suspect I'd have actually preferred a peated 7 year old minus the Cognac and orange element.
That sounds ludicrously tempting 🤣
Not sure it's enough to justify a whole bottle though, need an excuse to find a good whiskey bar
Is it time to get a bottle share thing going perhaps?
Treated myself to the classic ‘Middleton ‘potstill four minis set ( €43 from SV?) Only actually got through half of each bottle despite intending to finish them as a last pre lent hurrah .These are way too good to ‘force down’
Green Spot - so so , better than the mainstream but doesn’t shine in this company
Redbreast - def the Sherry bomb and bang per buck surprise winner of the ‘also rans’.
Johns Lane - benefits from the extra 6% ABV peppery but not that memorable
Barry Crockett - as good as it gets for most non millionaire Irish whiskey fans I’d say ….I think a bottle of this might be my special retirement treat …Lordy ! Mandarin tinged angels teardrops from heaven !
Production pause at Midleton Distillery
The distillery will temporarily pause production in early April 2025 and will recommence in the summer to support the sustainable global growth of its portfolio of Irish whiskeys... The move means Pernod Ricard has joined Diageo and Brown-Forman in pausing whisky production, with Diageo doing so at one of its Kentucky distilleries yesterday (7 March), and Brown-Forman mothballing Scotch distillery Glenglassaugh earlier this year.
https://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2025/03/irish-distillers-joins-diageo-in-production-pause/
35 Euro for a litre. One of the better all rounders. A lovely drop by itself. What you want from bourbon. Caramel, vanilla, huge finish etc.
Perfect in an old fashioned too.
Indeed. Pretty much my go-to for an old fashioned.
Adding a shot of orange liqueur to an old fashioned has proven to be a game changer for me.
After much experimentation, my go-to old fashioned recipe is…
2 measures buffalo trace
Small measure sugar syrup
3 good dashes bitters
Small measure Cointreau/Grand Marnier
Ice & orange peel garnish
Delicious!
Apparently, Bushmills are pausing production, too, and even Great Northern are slowing down. What I find interesting is that they must be predicting that sales will be down in approx 5 years or else they are all short of cash now and need to reduce current costs. Anyway, it looks a bit grim for whiskey, generally. It seems that Irish whiskey had limited growth potential and it's not just the small producers struggling, it seems.
Lovely. I've always some dehydrated fruit at hand so can pop a bit of orange into the mix that way.
Or Michters Rye which has orange notes to it
Irish whisky numbers have always made me scratch my head a bit. You wonder if it's a bit like Chinese economic data, where official Ireland colludes the spirits sector to make sure things present well… I take what I read with a pinch of salt.
You regularly read that there's been historic year-on-year growth in Irish whisky, and yet on the other hand as recently as 2024 IBEC were reporting two consecutive years of decline of the export value of the sector. Irish whisky has been going well in investment terms, but all can't possibly be too rosy in the garden when operating costs are high, there's stiff international competition and you've got the prospect of a US/EU trade war.
You'll hear people say things like the "long-term horizon is still growth-orientated" but … can't help but feel that's a lot of crystal ball, crossed fingers and trying to spook the investors too much. Maybe it is, and maybe it isn't, but it does seem like the particular problem with whisky as a business is that you can't adapt to changing markets quickly… It makes turning oil tankers look straightforward, when your stock takes years to mature.
