Irish Whisky

[tdt91]

Hello all, my first time here but not my last. I was in Ireland in May of 06 and tryed some different Whisky's in a pub. My favorite was Paddy. Brought 2 bottles home and now looking for more but you cannot get it in the states. Has anyone else ever tried Paddy?
I took the Jameson Distillery tour and was selected to do a taste test. They used Jameson, Powers, Paddy, Jack Daniels, and a top rated Scotch.
I of course picked Paddy. My next favorite was Jack then Jameson then Powers and could not even stand the smell of the Scotch.

I'll drink to that!!!
TDT91

[ILLfarmboy]

Welcome.

No I've never had Paddy. My favorite Irishes are Redbreast, Jameson 12, Blackbush and powers in that order. I'm surprised you chose JD over Powers. Not saying your wrong, after all taste is subjective. A lot of people 'round here look down on Jack D. but I drink it.

[tdt91]

I grew up in Ill. Earlville. My parents live in Ottawa now. I live just north of Baltimore,MD.
I just read here that you can get Paddy in some of the Duty Free shops in the Air Ports. Ohare was mentioned. I'll be flying alot this spring and you know I'll be looking for it. I'm having a sip of Walkers deluxe at the moment.

[ThomasH]

I've never had Paddy's but wopuld love to try it. My favorite Irish wiskeys are all the more aged brands: Tullamore Dew 12, Jameson 12, Redbreast, Bushmills 1608 etc. I think Irish whiskey is absolutely fantastic. If anyone can get bottles of Paddy's, I would buy one in a minute!

Thomas

[T47]

I have never had Paddys either. I really enjoy Irish Whiskey. My current favorite is Redbreast. I have bottles of Black Bush, Bushmills Original, Bushmills 10, Knappogue Castle 1992, Tullemore Dew, and Powers. I have tried the Michael Collins Blend and enjoyed it, I hear the Single malt is very good but we don't have that in WA. as of yet.
We do have the Tullemore Dew 12, I will have to try that. I would like to try the Bushmills 21, but will probably try and find it at a restaurant first as it is so darn expensive.
I have yet to try Connemara, I think that might be one that disagrees with me as I hear it has a strong peat flavor.
Like Bourbon, I have yet to have an Irish I would not have again. Some are better than others, but I have found something to enjoy in all of them.

[cowdery]

The thing about Irish whiskey that gets me is that Ireland is even worse than the USA in terms of everything coming from the same couple of distilleries. There are only three: Middleton, Cooley and Bushmills. Most of what you hear about -- Jameson, Tullamore, Paddy's -- all come from Middleton. They do make both column-distilled grain whiskey and pot-distilled malt whiskey there, so you could say it's two distilleries at the same location, and just like with the USA, with any aged product there's a lot to be said for profiling differences, but ultimately you wish there were more producers, both here and there.

[brockagh]

The thing about Irish whiskey that gets me is that Ireland is even worse than the USA in terms of everything coming from the same couple of distilleries. There are only three: Middleton, Cooley and Bushmills. Most of what you hear about -- Jameson, Tullamore, Paddy's -- all come from Middleton. They do make both column-distilled grain whiskey and pot-distilled malt whiskey there, so you could say it's two distilleries at the same location, and just like with the USA, with any aged product there's a lot to be said for profiling differences, but ultimately you wish there were more producers, both here and there.

Paddy is unique, in that it's a blend of pot still whiskey, grain whiskey and malt whiskey. The malt comes from Bushmills, and the rest comes from Midleton. It wouldn't be a favorite of mine, but it has a big following in Co. Cork, in Ireland. All the other Irish blends are a mix of either malt and grain, or pot still and grain.

You're right about there being far too few distilleries in Ireland. However, most of the whiskeys are made in Midleton, and this is probably the most complex distillery in the world. Powers, Jameson and Cork Distillers all merged and moved their production to one purpose built distillery designed to have the cpaacity to make whiskey in the style of MIdleton, Jameson, Paddy Powers.... At Midleton, they have four massive pot stills and seven column stills. The distillate streams can be moved from teh pot still side to the column still side. They also use different malted and unmalted barley ratios depending on what brand they're producing.


You may know that there were once hundreds of distilleries in Ireland. But for one reason or another, the whole industry collapsed - war with the British Empire, prohibition in the U.S., taxation...

Hopefully, the Kilbeggan distillery will open again soon. The plan is to have it up and running by the end of the decade.

[ThomasH]

As far as Irish whiskey, I am not a huge fan of Bushmills, especially the regular white label. I have a bottle of the 1608 12yr. that was only sold in duty free. As fantastic as this blend is, I don't think it is available anymore. My personal favorite is Tullamore 12yr. Jamesons 12 is also quite good but has a different taste to it than the Tullamore, even though both are made at Midleton. As far as standard brands go, Powers is an excellent whiskey. It is said to have 60% malt content and at about 16.00 for 750ml around here it is a steal. Regular Jamesons and Tullamore Dew are also good but somewhat more expensive!

Thomas

[ILLfarmboy]

Am I imagining things or does Powers have quit a bit of pot still flavor for an inexpensive blend? It reminds me of cream soda whereas the standard Jameson's reminds me of apples specifically Granny Smith apples. I figure this is the difference between the grain whiskeys in the blend versus the pot stilled unmalted/malted barley showing itself more in the Powers.

[brockagh]

Am I imagining things or does Powers have quit a bit of pot still flavor for an inexpensive blend? It reminds me of cream soda whereas the standard Jameson's reminds me of apples specifically Granny Smith apples. I figure this is the difference between the grain whiskeys in the blend versus the pot stilled unmalted/malted barley showing itself more in the Powers.

Yes, Powers has much more pot still than the standard Jameson. There's no malt in it. They say it's distillate driven, rather than maturation driven.