There is quite a lot going on in February. All of these events sound good to me.
Thursday, Feb 9, 7:30pm
An Introduction to Whiskey. Michael Lawlor, from the Celtic Whiskey Shop, will present 3 Irish, 3 Scotch, 1 American and 1 Japanese whiskey. This is the first in a series. Subsequent evenings will focus on Irish Whiskey (March 15), Scottish Whisky (April 12), Emerging Nations (May 10), Hidden Gems (June 14) and finally Islay Single Malts (July 12). Tickets €20 in advance at the shop.Wednesday, Feb 22, 7pm
Whiskey Fireside Chat at The Merrion Hotel. Midleton Master Distiller, Barry Crockett, will host a tasting of the Jameson Reserve range. €29 per person. Contact the hotel at (01) 603 0660 to reserve.Thursday, Feb 23, 8pm
Whiskey & Chocolate. The Irish Whiskey Society's monthly tasting, this time in association with Cocoa Atelier on Drury Street. €15 for members, €25 for non-members. Book here.Also, McLean Scotland are offering a week of events, trips, tastings around WhiskyLive in Dublin later this year.
Whiskey as ingredient
Neven Maguire is one of Ireland's most highly regarded chefs/restaurateurs. He has a series on RTÉ television at the moment called Home Chef where he visits the makers of some of Ireland's best known brands then whips up some dishes. On the last episode (Jan 26), he visited Midleton distillery and met David Quinn who is one of the top production guys there and knows all the secrets. You can rewatch that online (if you are in Ireland, that is; outside, I don't know) until Feb 16.
After his visit, he cooks three dishes using whiskey. The recipes are online: Smoked salmon tagliatelle with whiskey, Seared rib-eye with mushrooms and roasted garlic mash, and French Apple Tart (Neven puts whiskey in the filling but it's not mentioned in the recipe).
Speaking of appley treats laced with whiskey, how about a slice of this delicious looking (and spud-free) Whiskey Apple Pudding on The Daily Spud.
Another blog!
Tomás Clancy is the wine correspondent for the Sunday Business Post but sometimes devotes his column (and his blog) to Irish whiskey. Knows his stuff and is a real cheerleader for excellence in Irish whiskey production. He also mentioned the last IWS tasting in his column and we sold out crazy early. Not a coincidence, I suspect.
More podcasts!
My worlds of technology and whiskey collided when John Cashman of Cooley Distillery sat down with Nathan Mattise for this week's Wired magazine Storyboard Podcast. Over nearly 40 minutes we learn a little about John and a lot about Cooley and Irish whiskey. It finishes with a live tasting of the new Concannon Irish whiskey.
John Cashman is all over the internet this week. He's also on WhiskyCast 353 talking about Connemara Bog Oak (which he covers in the Wired podcast too; what are these Smiley Bars, John? :), the whiskey shop in Dublin Airport and the Beam takeover.
And some tunes...
Let's visit Portugal, shall we? These tracks are from a young, Fado-influenced group called Deolinda.