Alternatives to American whiskey … Powers Rye maybe.
Anyone ever attend a Whiskey Tasting night?
I'm not really a whiskey drinker, except maybe at Christmas when i have a few. The Dundalk Lions Club are holding one in Dundalk soon and i'm tempted to go. 35 euro but you get to try lots of samples and there's a short talk on the history of each.
I'm in a society. We have one every month. A local bar does a few every year too. It's a great way to try new stuff and expand your knowledge.
Online tastings kept me sane through Covid and I discovered dozens of new whiskeys.
I did one with Killowen a while back. Brendan, the founder/distillery, hosted it and he was great craic. Full of interesting chat about the whiskey and the distillery. He also raffled off the half empty bottles so a few people went home with some nice prizes.
Yes but like a wine tasting, your taste buds go to **** after 3-4 different drinks so can all end up tasting the same.
The killowen Dalriadan was one of my favourite whiskies of the last few years. 60% bushmills 11 year old sherry aged cask strength. 40% caol ila cask strength 11 year old in bourbon.
I kept the bottle going as long as I could but since it's been gone I've picked up a few bushmills sauternes at auction at a decent price and I've been mixing it about 60 40 with peat. At the moment blackpitts cask strength. Its just such a good mix.
The fruit and the smoke. I'd love to do it with ardbeg 10, next time I'm in an airport so the pricing works. The blackpitts cask strength is a great whiskey on its own. As is the bushmills, obvs, although I'm glad people aren't paying the rrp
The wife brought home a bottle of the Ardfallen with the black label from Aldi.
I hadn't read anything about it, but immediately clocked it's a sherry finish, fairly sweet and enjoyed a small glass of it neat.
Are the other bottles worth getting?
I thought the Ardfallen 10 y/o was decent, but not as good as some similarly priced drops that I sampled the same night. It could very well grow on me, though.
Having a small drop of Dingle's Lá An Dreoilín tonight. Great stuff.
Add a smidgeon a cold water, bingo!
Randomly bought a bottle of Ferncullen single malt.
Pleased to find another newer Irish distillery to be genuinely optimistic about (...if they stick around).
Probably preferred the couple of Boanns I have had lately, although this has much to recommend it.
Nice body and oiliness at 46% abv. The spirit shows some youth but it's now new makey and manages to come down on the pleasant side of it... energetic and invigorating rather than rough.
Some of the reviews of this mention apple and green fruit notes. Would definitely agree with this, I'd say as well there's brown sugar and a lot of the bourbon barrel there.
At the moment between Shortcross, Boann and these guys, it's a good time.
Both of them are finished in the same dessert wine cask iirc moscatel.
What were the others you sampled v Ardfallen 10, out of curiosity.
Unfortunately, Powerscourt appear to be in a bit of bother, too.
https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/delay-in-46m-funding-round-at-troubled-powerscourt-distillery/a1250544401.html
Jameson Triple Triple was one of them. I was actually shocked how much I liked that one because I wouldn't often go for Jameson.
Tullamore DEW 12 y/o was the other, but thinking about it now that one does belong in a slightly higher price bracket.
Yes, I was hoping it was something that was solvable!
Be a real shame if they did go under.
I finally got around to opening this, it's so sweet and easy to drink.
Nice little tipple after dinner.
belated post on Easter tipples..
John’s lane 12 before Sunday dinner, followed by finishing the remainder (slightly over 1 measure) of a Green Spot Leoville Barton. Both great as always.. and glad I have an unopened bottle of the Leoville Barton on standby..
Monday after dinner was a Yellow Spot which seemed to be a fitting finish for a pot still Easter, and excellent as usual.
I kept seeing an ad on Instagram for Skellig six18 Dark Reserve single malt, a 23 year old whiskey, so i clicked into the link and it sends me to the Skellig website but then says page not available!
Did a little more digging, and found the page on their website, but has very little information, from what i could make out, its a distillery exclusive, can only be got there.
Anybody actually seen it or know anything about it?
What’s the price? Give us a link. How much have they done with it themselves?
I have no idea!! Thats what i was trying to find out!
Skellig Six 18 Distillery Dark Sky Reserve Whiskey
This is the most i can find.
Looks like it's not a whiskey that's actually available at the moment. Sourced from Bushmills or Cooley. So probably the distillery trying some kind of halo effect.
Picked up a bottle of Aberlour 14 in a French supermarket recently. Best they seemed to have on offer. I bot a bottle of the 12 last year, and it was grand. This is better, but not really that memorable. Nice sherry influence, and decent value at €32.
Oh, got a bottle of that for my birthday and was looking forward to opening it, shame it's not that great. Still, free whiskey, can't complain!
It's a nice drinker, nothing I don't like about it. But then tastes are different, so look forward to hearing what you think of it.
Which supermarket? I picked up one last month for €44 and a triple cask for €38 in Super-U
Picked up a Clonakilty SPS in SV earlier this week for 38 quid, I'm very happy with it.
I tend to only drink Single Pot Still whiskey.
Rarely buy anything else.
Intermarche, and it had a couple of extra discounts off the regular price.
There's a small Utile near where I visit, which often has some nice stuff, but none there on this visit.
Documentary on BBC2 tonight at 9pm… Hunting The Whisky Bandits:
Reporter Sam Poling investigates the fraudsters lurking in the shadows of Scotland's £7billion whisky industry, going undercover to learn more about crime's latest money-spinner - cask whisky investment.
The documentary was tough viewing, seeing people done for their life savings as conmen take advantage of the lack of documented ownership of casks. Hopefully justice catches up with them.
Back to the whisky, watching the documentary I had a sample dram of this:
Longrow – Peated Campbeltown Single Malt 46%
Just the right amount of peat for me, though seems like it is hard to come by now.
https://www.celticwhiskeyshop.com/longrow-peated-single-malt
It's good value for what it is and an easy sipper, I saw it in Carrefour last week for around €38, but I still have a third of a bottle left over from last year so didn't indulge. I did buy a bottle of Fondaudège peated which I'm looking forward to trying. I had a bottle of their regular unpeated offering last year which went down very easily on the camping trip.
