A few pictures have surfaced to illustrate stories I posted previously. Obama's cask of Cooley whiskey appears in an article by Conor O'Clery in The Global Post. It's cask no. 16110, containing 200 litres at 64% ABV (it's normal to mature at a high ABV since the alcohol evaporates as time passes; it will be diluted to the desired strength at the bottling stage).
And here are the manufacturer's snaps of the giant glass made for the assault on the World Record for the largest Irish coffee. An English company called Laboratory Equipment Ltd hand made the 60 litre monster. It's great to see there are still specialist manufacturing companies in these islands that can tackle one-off projects like this.
Research and fact-checking - first casualties of the recession?
Compare these two paragraphs in recent editions of two British newspapers. They are both from articles on the flood of Irish shoppers heading north of the border to exploit the current euro/pound exchange rate.
From The Sunday Times, 8 Feb, 2009:
It's easy to see why: a litre of Jameson Irish whiskey costs £19.99 (€22.85) in Newry, compared to €38.59 in Dunnes Stores, Dublin, the city where it is actually distilled.From The Daily Telegraph, 27 Feb, 2009:
It's easy to see why. [...] A litre of Jameson Irish whiskey costs the equivalent of 20 euros in Newry and 38 euros in Dublin, the city where it's distilled.Hmm, different newspapers, different authors, similar phrasing and the same glaring error (Jameson is distilled in Cork, not Dublin). Pure coincidence, no doubt.
Whiskey reviews from around the net (and the Klingon homeworld?)
This article on epicurious matching Irish whiskey with cheeses and other foods is pretty inspiring. The BoozeBasher offers an idiosyncratic review of Bushmills Original while the Whisky Boys tackle Bushmills 10yo single malt. Kevin Erskine is a fan of Irish whiskey as a cocktail base. And finally, Rich Nagle ponders the connection between Clontarf Whiskey and the Klingon language. Qapla'!