Irish Whiskey Guest Tasting Evening

It is just after 7 pm on Wednesday 12th October 2011 and all our guests have arrived and the introductions have taken place.

The Whisky Boys have three great drams for them and their guest to taste tonight.

The Guest Tasters are:-

Alex Milne – A previous guest taster and never refuses a chance to visit The Whisky Boys on one of their great tasting nights.

Lee Madigan – Also a previous guest taster, who blames the Whisky Boys for her being converting to Whisky and her now true love for a great wee dram.

Gerard M. Burns – A Glaswegian by birth and a graduate from the Glasgow School of Art in the early 80’s.  His fabulous works of art are appreciated world wide and one of his paintings, “The Rowan” hangs very proudly over the desk of The Scottish First Minister’s desk at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh. Please check out his website and his fantastic artwork on www.gerardmburns.com.

Tony Ross – A friend of Nicola and her husband Scott for a number of years.  Tony is the director of a very successful Wealth Management company in Glasgow city centre, Reid Scott and Ross.  Tony’s business can provide professional and independent advice on a range of products which include Occupational Pensions, Pension Release, SIPP’s, Personal Pensions, Savings & Investments and Trusts & Protection.

The first bottle to be opened this evening is:-

Locke’s 8 Year Old Single Malt, Pure Pot Still Irish Whiskey – 40% Alc/vol 70cl

This is a Single Malt distilled at the Cooley Distillery, this 8 year old was first released in 2000 ands used 10% of their malt being peated.

Colour…Orange/tangerine

Nicola’s Tasting

Nose…Lemon and limes.
Taste…Hot sweet toddy, honey blended with lemon, grassy notes.
Finish…Long and hot.

Score…3.5 Corks

Jim’s Tasting

Nose…Loads of fruit and barley with a hint of oakiness.
Taste…Quite warming, dried fruit, honey and grass, needs a teardrop of water to release some very complex notes.
Finish…A vanilla oakiness with the gentle touch of honeyed peat. Medium to long finish.

Score…3.5 Corks

Lee’s Tasting

Nose…Sherry and some sweet limes.
Taste…Sweet with honey and limes. love it without water, great warming effect.
Finish…Medium finish leaving you warm with no sharp aftertaste, loved this one.

Score…4 Corks

Gerard’s Tasting

Nose…Just a delightful sweet honey aroma.
Taste…Soft sweet honey, so easy to sip.
Finish…Medium with the honey lingering.

Score…4 Corks

Tony’s Tasting

Nose…A bag full of fresh limes.
Taste…Sherry. slight bitterness, dark chocolate.
Finish…Quite sharp and quick to leave the palate.

Score…3 Corks

Alex’s Tasting

Nose…Roses! where did that come from? yes roses.
Taste…Beautiful – smooth, honey, so easy on the taste buds, a quality dram.
Finish…So easy and tempting, I want more.

Score…4 Corks

Overall score…4 Corks

Well the evening has certainly started with a bang everyone at the tasting table really loved this Irish diamond of a dram. One or two of the guest thought the tube and the labelling on the bottle was a little dull and old fashioned, but there was no complaints about the contents. This is a very sophisticated and delightful dram, The Boys will make sure they one of these bottle in their cabinet at all times.

So the night marches on and we move on to our second Irish dram of the evening, and this one is:-

The Irishman Single Malt Irish Whiskey, Aged 10 Years – 40% Alc/vol 70cl

This dram is matured in two casks, Bourbon and Sherry and each bottle is uniquely numbered and signed. Check out their website at www.hotirishman.com

Fresh glasses at the ready the bottle was opened and the pouring began.

Colour…Golden honey

Nicola’s Tasting

Nose…Pungent/sour mash on the nose.
Taste…Wicker/straw/barley, whisps of sunny hot fields.
Finish…Medium with very little flavour now showing.

Score…2.5 Corks

Jim’s Tasting

Nose…The aroma of degrading garden mulch.
Taste…Malty and no complexity in any way, a big disappointment.
Finish…Short.

Score…2 Corks

Lee’s Tasting

Nose…Sharp, smell like vinegar, foosty.
Taste…Oats/porridge.
Finish…Bitter and long.

Score…2 Corks

Gerard’s Tasting

Nose…Not very pleasant, slightly foosty.
Taste…Natural, earthy without water it is too powerful, with water – bland.
Finish…Short.

Score…2 Corks

Tony’s Tasting

Nose…Awful, overpowering alcohol.
Taste…Oaty and dry.
Finish…Medium.

Score…1 Cork

Alex’s Tasting

Nose…Antiseptic cream, does not inspire.
Taste…Sorry, for a single malt this is very bland, not unpleasant, but can only rate as I would an average blend.
Finish…Non-existent.

Score…2.5 corks

Overall score…2 Corks

Can Whiskey go off? Like wine can the cork effect the contents or can their be such a thing as a bad batch, if so this is one of them. No one at the tasting table enjoyed this expression.

Without much further ado lets move on to the third and final dram of the evening, and that is:-

Redbreast Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey – Aged 12 Years, Non Chill Filtered, Cask Strength – 57.7 Alc/vol 70cl

Irish Distillers is a subsidiary of the French Drinks Company Pernod Ricard and it was acquired in 1988 in a friendly takeover

Irish Distillers Group was formed in 1966, when a merger took place between Irish Whiskey Distillers, John Power & Son, John Jameson & Son and the Cork Distillery Company.

Redbreast is distilled at Midleton Distillery and The Whisky Boys have recently tasted the 40% Alc/vol bottling, and that was great, so hoping for a great dram here.

Colour…Rich gold

Nicola’s Tasting

Nose…Oaky and earthy with pineapples and green apples.
Taste…Smooth as chocolate, sweet and full of fruit, winter fruits, sultanas and dates, Cadbury’s fruit and nut sprinkled with sherry.
Finish…Medium and very fruity.

Score…4 Corks

Jim’s Tasting

Nose…Fruit by the basket full, some Caribbean exotic fruits, vanilla is present.
Taste…A delight for the palate, loads of citrus notes, a touch of spice and vanilla, a triumph.
Finish…Quite long, rich and complex, all the fruit and spice lingers to the joy of your taste buds.

Score…4 Corks

Lee’s Tasting

Nose…Sweet bananas, oaty and fruity.
Taste…Vanilla and bananas are the big flavours in here.
Finish…Long with a delightful aftertaste.

Score….3.5 Corks

Gerard’s Tasting

Nose…Sweet, fruity and loads of chocolate.
Taste…Figs, bananas and chocolate vanilla.
Finish…Long and a smashing wee dram.

Score…4 Corks

Tony’s Tasting

Nose…Toffee apples, citrus fruits.
Taste…Rich and creamy, vanilla chocolate.
Finish…Long and the best of the night.

Score…4 Corks

Alex’s Tasting

Nose…Aromatic, aroma of over ripe fruit – going into alcohol , fabulous.
Taste…As good as it gets tonight, this Whiskey is excellent.
Finish…Strong but a very elegant dram with a medium finish.

Score…4 Corks

Overall Score 4 Corks

What a corker to finish our Irish tasting for the evening. Everyone at the tasting table loved the Redbreast and this is now on the shopping list of most of our guests.

The Whisky Boys will have to give more thought into obtaining and tasting some of the other expressions from Midleton Distillery, if any of them are like this bottling then we canny wait.

The evening ended with everyone moving out to the Whisky Boys new tasting cabin where we finished off the evening with a wee Connemara Peated Whiskey. Look out for more Irish tastings this month.

Some the Whiskies we tasted tonight may be a little difficult to get but be sure to try your specialist shop and certainly on-line by using our shop window below.