The Irishman whiskey - new cask strength version

I mentioned recently that I tasted The Irishman whiskeys at a food festival and was quite taken by them. In particular, The Irishman 70 (also known as "The Irishman - The Original Clan" in the US) has a unique selling point. The "70" refers to the 70% malt whiskey content. In a normal blend the other 30% would be a light grain whiskey. Here, however, the "blend" is topped up with a flavourful pure pot still whiskey.


This mix of malt and pure pot still is the signature style of The Hot Irishman company and this September or October we will get to try a cask strength version. This will be a vintage release of no more than 1,400 bottles. Most of these have been pre-allocated already and about 150 bottles will stay in Ireland. The price will be €130-€150.

Bernard Walsh, who personally selects the casks that are vatted for The Irishman whiskeys, very kindly sent me a sample of this new cask strength release, which comes in at 56% ABV.

The nose is a very pleasant rum-and-raisin fudge while the palate has a mouth-filling spiciness that lingers through a satisfying finish. The basic Irishman 70 has a squeaky, dry finish like chomping on fresh peanuts but I didn't get that here. I found that a few drops of water really opened up the flavour.

I like this whiskey a lot. It's very expensive but you won't be indulging in this robust spirit every day anyway. Save it for when you really want to notice what you are drinking.

Whiskey Miscellany

Clontarf Whiskey for sale

The Sunday Tribune reported recently that the owner of the Clontarf Whiskey brand had put it up for sale.

Clontarf was launched in 2000 by the Roaring Water Bay Spirits Company in Dublin. In 2003, Roaring Water Bay Spirits merged with the Great Spirits Company, owners of Knappogue Castle whiskey. It seems that the merged company, Castle Brands, now has one more whiskey brand than it requires.

The origins of distillation in Ireland
It's not known when the technique of distillation arrived in Ireland though it is generally accepted that well-travelled monks brought it back from parts of Europe under Arab influence. The earliest references to whiskey are said to be from the 12th Century (though looking in my own books, no specific source is cited).

An article on The Whisky Channel, however, notes the publication of a new pamphlet claiming to push the written record of distillation in Ireland back to the 6th Century.

The evidence rests on a Latin manuscript called The Lives of the Irish Saints, specifically a passage relating to St Ruadhan of Lothra (or Lorrha) of County Tipperary. Now I haven't read the pamphlet but this is where a little caution is warranted. The earliest copy of The Lives of the Irish Saints that I can find reference to dates from about 1400 and, as a more recent edition of The Lives of the Saints states:

Unfortunately, the Latin and Irish lives are late and unreliable and are mainly concerned with an entirely legendary account of how Ruadhan cursed Tara and caused it to be abandoned, and other magical elements.

New Kilbeggan, Tullamore Dew and Greenore tasting notes

John Hansell posted a spate of Irish whiskey tastings recently. Here's Kilbeggan 15yo, Tullamore Dew 10yo and Greenore 8yo/15yo.

Official whiskey price survey

We are gradually accumulating whiskey pricing data in the Meet My Shorts column. The state Central Statistics Office has been doing something similar for Dublin and the rest of the country. According to their findings:

• A bottle of whiskey (take home) is 2.7% more expensive in Dublin than outside Dublin.
• A single measure of whiskey is 6.9% more expensive in Dublin.
• A bottle of whiskey in Dublin varies between €23.89 and €27.54, average €26.04.
• A measure of whiskey in Dublin varies between €3.48 and €4.27, average €3.89.
• A bottle of whiskey outside Dublin varies between €19.10 and €27.39, average €25.36.
• A measure of whiskey outside Dublin varies between €3.22 and €4.29, average €3.64.

For a measure of whiskey, those Dublin figures seem on the low side to me. Maybe I'm hanging out in the expensive bars.

Whiskey at the Taste of Dublin Festival

Today I attended the Taste of Dublin Festival in the Iveagh Gardens. While the food there is wonderful there is plenty to amuse the whiskey geek too. Here are some of the stands that caught my eye.

Cooley Whiskey
There was a fairly complete range of Cooley's own brands on show, including the new Greenore 15yo. The Tyrconnell 10yo sherry and port finishes were there too but the madeira finish is apparently out of stock. The good news is that it will reappear before the end of the year.

The mystery of the Greenore 10yo that materialised a few months ago in Canada and nowhere else was also explained to me by Jack Teeling, Executive Director of Cooley. The original plan was to follow up the 8yo Greenore with a 10yo but the 8yo proved so successful that the older stock was vatted with the younger whiskey to extend the product. A contract with the Liquor Control Board of Ontario for the 10yo still had to be fulfilled however so they got a one-off batch. There is no plan to produce more of the 10yo.

Celtic Whiskey Shop
The Celtic Whiskey Shop is pouring from the Irish Distillers range at the festival (e.g. Powers, Jameson Gold, Jameson 18yo) plus a few Scotches (Auchentoshan Three Wood, Arran 10yo, Bowmore 18yo).

The Irishman Whiskey
The Hot Irishman company started out selling Irish coffee in a bottle in 1999 but subsequently launched two whiskeys: The Irishman 70 and The Irishman Single Malt.

I had heard promising things about these whiskeys but hadn't tried them until today. They are seriously good. Both are vatted from casks specially selected by Bernard Walsh of Hot Irishman and thus have their own distinct character.

The Irishman 70 is the real revelation. It is technically a blend but uniquely among all whiskeys it is a blend of 70% malt whiskey and 30% pure pot still whiskey. In other words, it does not contain any grain whiskey and so is far livelier on the palate than a typical blend. This is a whiskey I have to revisit.

Mitchell & Son
Mitchell & Son are mainly promoting their wines at the Taste Festival but you might be able to persuade them to pull out the bottle of Green Spot Pure Pot Still whiskey from behind the counter.

Murphy's Ice Cream
I knew from Kieran Murphy's elegant weblog that he makes Irish whiskey-flavoured ice cream in his shop in Dingle. Unfortunately this wasn't on offer at the Taste Festival but if it's anywhere near as good as their vanilla it might just be worth the trip to Dingle to sample.

The Murphys recommend Paddy whiskey as an ice cream ingredient, by the way.

Coole Swan
I had my first taste of Coole Swan cream liqueur at the festival. Think Baileys reconstructed with the finest ingredients: fresh double cream, single malt Irish whiskey, real chocolate, cocoa, madagascan bourbon vanilla. It's a stunning concoction.

Coole Swan was being promoted by Brinkman Beverages who also distribute Michael Collins whiskey in Ireland. They hadn't quite got their stall fully set up when I stopped by and the whiskey bottles weren't open for sampling. Perhaps that has changed by now.

Irish Mist
Irish Mist is a blend of Irish whiskey, honey and herbs and it tastes as strong as that list of ingredients suggests. I guess you either like it or you don't. I found it drinkable over ice but I won't be rushing to add a bottle to my drinks cabinet.

Shu Sake
I know almost nothing about sake but during a stint working in Japan I was introduced to some sake of the finest quality. It was an exceptional drink and miles ahead of the normal rice wine I drank around the same time. I have hankered after finding some of the premium stuff ever since.

I didn't find it at the Shu stand but there was as decent a range of sake there as you are going to find in Ireland. I tried several, each quite distinct and pleasant in its own way. It's a subject worthy of further investigation.

Whiskey Miscellany

It's been a while since I did a round up of short items. A couple of larger articles are in the pipeline but I have enough for a miscellany so let's go with that.

An American Tale
You might have spotted that the Meet My Shorts feature over there in the sidebar has gone all American. That's thanks to Eoin in Rhode Island (Our Man in Brown) and the enigmatically named Ash Ponders in Arizona. The US prices are even better value than they appear when you consider that a standard US measure (a jigger) is 44.4ml whereas an Irish measure (the quarter gill) is only 35.5ml. Our Man in Brown (University) tells me that the bar there is more generous still. Students, eh?

Isle of Arran Tasting
The Isle of Arran whisky tasting in Dublin last week was an enjoyable and civilised affair. We sampled nine of their whiskies plus one cream liqueur. Their flagship 10yo single malt was generally well-received though not quite to my own taste. Most of the rest of the whiskies consisted of the base malt finished in a wide variety of casks (Marsala, Tokaji, Moscatel, Fino Sherry, Burgundy). This is pretty brave since they try not to repeat finishes so they can never be sure what they are going to end up with.

For my money, the Burgundy finish had the edge but this was topped by a malt matured entirely in a single, first-fill sherry cask. The Arran Gold Cream Liqueur was surprisingly enjoyable, a finely-balanced combination of whiskey and cream.

Jameson Signature Reserve
Only available in Duty Frees, Jameson Signature Reserve is part of the newly-branded "Reserve" line-up from Irish Distillers (along with 12yo Special Reserve, Gold Reserve, 18yo Limited Reserve and Rarest Vintage Reserve).

Thanks to Michael Foggarty, of the Celtic Whiskey Shop, I had a chance to sample Signature Reserve. It's a rather sweet whiskey (think Opal Fruits/Starburst), no hard edges to it at all. I think it would be a very pleasant whiskey at a higher strength. As it is, the taste is somewhat thin and the finish very short. Hints at great things in the rest of the Reserve range, perhaps.