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Get a little Irish in you this St
Patricks Day
With St Patricks Day tomorrow 17th March
and with Irish whiskey having something
of a renaissance in recent times I
thought we would take a look at the
whiskey Ireland has to offer.
So
what does Ireland have to tempt you to put down your Scotch
whisky and pick up an Irish whiskey:
Irish Single Pot Still Whiskey:
 Irish Single Pot Still whiskey is a
style of whiskey which is unique to
Ireland in general and to the Midleton
Distillery, County Cork, in particular.
It is regarded as the quintessential
style of Irish whiskey.
Unlike Scotch Single Malt whisky which
is made from malted barley then double
distilled, Irish Single Pot Still
whiskey is made from a mash of malted
and unmalted barley, which is then
triple distilled in traditional copper
pot stills. Irish Pot Still Whiskeys are
characterised by full, complex flavours
and a wonderful, creamy mouthfeel. The
inclusion of unmalted barley to the
mashbill, along with the tradition of
triple distillation, defines the
character of Pot Still and this uniquely
Irish approach to whiskey distillation.
Up until early 2011 we only had a few
Single Pot Still Irish Whiskeys
available, namely the Redbreast 12 & 15
year old and Green Spot.
Since early 2011 the Midleton Distillery
has been adding to their family of
Single Pot Still Irish Whiskeys adding
Powers John's Lane, Midleton Barry
Crockett Legacy and the newly released
Redbreast 12 Cask Strength.
Recommended
Irish Single Pot Still Whiskey:
Irish
Blended Whiskey:
 Like
Scotch blended whisky, Irish blended
whiskey is by far the biggest selling
whisky produced in Ireland. Both the
Midleton and Cooley distilleries produce
several different brands of blended
whisky. Blends produced at Midleton
include Jameson, Tullamore Dew and
Paddy. Blends produced at Cooley include
Kilbeggan, Lockes, Inishowen and Millars.
The Bushmills Distillery only produces
single malt whiskey therefore the the
grain whiskey component which goes into
the famous Bushmills blends is produced
at the Midleton distillery.
Recommended
Irish Blended Whiskey:
- Tullamoe Dew
-
Tullamore Dew 12 Year Old
- Bushmills 1608 400th Anniversary
- Bushmills Black Bush
- Jameson
- Jameson Select Reserve Small Batch
- Jameson 12 Year Old
- Jameson 18 Year Old
- Jameson Signature Reserve
- Jameson 2007 Rarest Vintage
Reserve
- Powers
Irish Single
Malt Whiskey:
 Bushmills is
the only distillery producing triple
distilled Irish single malt whiskey. As
well as Bushmills single malt the
distillery also produces Knappogue
Castle, Clontarf and The Irishman single
malt whiskies.
Cooley distillery produces double
distilled single malt whiskey but there
have been rumours recently that that
they have produced some triple distilled
single malt. Cooleys main whiskey and
Ireland’s only peated single malt
whiskey is Connemara. It also produces
Tyrconnell and Lockes single malt
whiskey.
The Midleton distillery although
Irelands biggest whiskey producing
distillery does not produce any single
malt.
Recommended
Irish Single Malt Whiskey:
Irish
Grain Whiskey:
 Until
recent years the Midleton distillery
produced the majority of Irish grain
whiskey and most of this went into
its Jameson blended whiskey. Oddly
even with Middleton's huge output of
grain whiskey, none of it is ever
bottled as single grain whiskey.
In more recent times the Cooley
Distillery which was founded in 1987,
produces
Greenore single grain
whiskey, which is Irelands only
commercially available single grain
whiskey, they offer a 8 year old and
a 15 year old.
Recommended
Irish Single Pot Still Whiskey:
Highly Recommended Irish Whiskey:
Still don't know what to go for?
Well take your time you don't need
to try them all on St Patricks Day
but if you want me to narrow my
recommendations down a little more,
here are a few from the selection
above which which I would highly
recommend:
Highly
Recommended Irish Whiskey:
Enjoy and Happy St Patricks Day!
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St Patrick’s
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