Ship of Fools: Irish whiskey

Thread: Irish whiskey Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Sir Kevin (# 3492) on :

My father-in-law and I drink Jameson's and I am enjoying some now, but my daughter prefers Bushmill's. When I spent a lot of time in Santa Barbara, California I acquired a taste for Tullamore Dew at my favourite pub, The James Joyce. You?

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :

Our's is a Bushmills house, with a preference for Blackbush, their premier blended whiskey.

I reckon there are two kinds of Irish Whiskey. There is the sipping whiskey at one end and at the other end there is firewater, of which Paddy is the archetype, which does a brilliant job driving out the cold and damp on Irish racecourses.

Posted by Sandemaniac (# 12829) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
Our's is a Bushmills house, with a preference for Blackbush, their premier blended whiskey.

Black Bush - also known as "peroxide blonde"...

AG

Posted by jbohn (# 8753) on :

Knappogue Castle when I can lay ahold of it- otherwise, any of the three Sir Kevin mentions will work in a pinch.

A friend brought some Jameson's Gold Reserve by the other night- delightful stuff, that.

Posted by Alaric the Goth (# 511) on :

I like the Paddy 'firewater' (see above!) better than any other Irish whiskey. I first encountered it when on holiday in Co. Cork (where it is made) in 1993. I occasionally try to develop a taste for other Irish, but the bottle of blended Bushmills (not Black Bush) I bought on Friday (it was on offer!) is alright at best, and hasn't converted me.

Posted by Og, King of Bashan (# 9562) on :

My father is a Bushmills guy, so I typically go that way as well, although in the head-to-head taste off at the Middleton distillery, I picked Jameson. Does "Whatever is on sale at the bottle shop" work as an answer?

I often give Irish whiskey credit for allowing me to enjoy good quality tequila. When I was 19, I had a bad night with Jose Cuervo Gold, and to this day I cannot smell a bottle of that wretched stuff without having my stomach twist into an odd shape. For many years, just a hint of black pepper in hard liquor was all it took to turn me green. However, after tasting Powers, which has a strong black pepper taste, and then discerning that taste in other Irish whiskeys, I was able to tame my fear of that taste in small doses. Now, so long as the pepper is restrained in the tequila, I can enjoy it without fear.

Posted by balaam (# 4543) on :

I've never been too impressed with the standard Bushmills, the step up the their premium blend, Black Bush, is some step. In fact Black bush is better than Bushmills Malt to my palate. Drink either Black Bush or Bushmills Malt neat or with a little water or if you must ice.

Paddy, on the other hand is a good blending whiskey, if you drink whiskey and... this is one to go for.

Jameson's sits in the middle as an all rounder, If you want something to either mix or drink neat it does both, but not as well as those already mentioned. In fact it sits in the middle in terms of peaty taste, Paddy being very peaty (I don't think it's firewater) and all the Bushmills virtually peat free. Not that the distillers will be too bothered by this criticism as Bushmills, Jameson's and Paddy are all owned by the same company.

I'm quite partial to Greenore Single Grain, smoooooth.

Posted by Timothy the Obscure (# 292) on :

I prefer Jamesons, especially the 12-year-old Reserve, but I usually drink Kilbeggan because it's cheaper.

Anybody have any experience with the Irish single malts? I haven't quite brought myself to bite the bullet and spend that much to try one.

Posted by Arch Anglo Catholic (# 15181) on :

Of the Irish I much prefer Powers, which is delightfully smokey and peaty. It makes a chap quite happy.

Posted by The Great Gumby (# 10989) on :

I'm not generally into the Irish, but when I was buying myself a bottle of something else recently, I was offered a taste of an Irish blend I wasn't familiar with, called Writers Tears (I'm sure there should be an apostrophe in there somewhere, but Google says not).

It's not cheap for a blend, but it's got the most amazing flavour. It's very pale, with a clean, crisp palate, and an unmistakable taste of pears. Having sampled several whiskies at that point, that was the one that really stuck in my mind as something very different. If only they'd sort out the apostrophe thing...

Posted by littlemiss (# 17372) on :

Ahhh I dont know you all want to get yourselves some real scotch whiskey - Smokehead extra rare Islay Single Malt, add a tadge of water! [Yipee]

Posted by Ronald Binge (# 9002) on :

The auld Jameson, on the rare occasions that I drink whiskey, is hard to beat, unless its Crested Ten, the 10yo version. The only Irish single malt I've drank is Bushmills single malt, which is very pleasant.

On the other hand, I can't drink blended Scotch whisky at all.

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