What Irish Whisky are you drinking or have you purchased in 2025?

[Wedelstaedt]

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, I thought I would start a 2025 Irish whisky topic. 

 

In my glass, Redbreast CS. Yummy.
My Whisky Mentor described this whisky as elegant. A perfect description for certain.
I will add another adjective, delicate. It is light on the palate, but has so much tongue coating flavor. It defies all of the conventional whisky rules. Yep, I’m a fan. 
 

Ms. Wedel and I are watching The Australian GP. The first race on the calendar, back where it belongs. 
 

An early Happy St. Patrick’s Day, fellow SB’rs. 
 

Slainte

[Special Reserve]

I have some Redbreast CS ready for tomorrow.

[Kepler]

 

I've made my St. Patrick's Day pour selections.

I decided to go "full import" lol.  The Jameson SPS 5 Cask release was a duty free travel exclusive and the Red Head was something our own @smokinjoe recommended on here before. 

 

Sainte!

[Pub Crawler]

Bought on a whim for St Paddy's Day. Has some heat at 126 proof. Sláinte

[Richnimrod]

I'll be cracking the seal on yet another bottle from the "Old Sod"... Bushmill's.   ...The favored pour of my long-departed Grandpa John; my Mom's Dad.   Better known to his buddies as "Big Red Johnnie" Harbourne.    He wasn't much of a drinker most of the time; but, when he did it was always Bushmill's.   The mainstay of the reputed 'longest-continuously-operating-distillery' on the planet.    ...Making whisky at the same site near the Northern tip of "The Emerald Isle" since 1608, apparently.

Slainte'!

[Kepler]

13 hours ago, Richnimrod said:

I'll be cracking the seal on yet another bottle from the "Old Sod"... Bushmill's.   ...The favored pour of my long-departed Grandpa John; my Mom's Dad.   Better known to his buddies as "Big Red Johnnie" Harbourne.    He wasn't much of a drinker most of the time; but, when he did it was always Bushmill's.   The mainstay of the reputed 'longest-continuously-operating-distillery' on the planet.    ...Making whisky at the same site near the Northern tip of "The Emerald Isle" since 1608, apparently.

Slainte'!

One of the finest whiskeys of any type I've ever tasted was a 31 year old Bushmill's bottled by an independent bottler.  Some of those can be truly amazing.

[Kepler]

Today I cracked open the Writer's Tears Red Head to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

It's matured in Oloroso Sherry casks and I must say it tastes fantastic. The mouthfeel is extremely velvety.  

Shout-out to @smokinjoe for the recommendation, ... it's a good one Joe

 

 

Edited March 18 by Kepler

[Skinsfan1311]

I use this glass once a year...

 

[Kepler]

34 minutes ago, Kepler said:

Today I cracked open the Writer's Tears Red Head to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

It's matured in Oloroso Sherry casks and I must say it tastes fantastic. The mouthfeel is extremely velvety.  

Shout-out to @smokinjoe for the recommendation, ... it's a good one Joe

 

 

Pic added

 

[flahute]

On 3/17/2025 at 6:03 PM, Kepler said:

Pic added

 

Cool coffee setup! I have the larger capacity version that drips into an insulated carafe. Makes great coffee.

 

[Kepler]

10 hours ago, flahute said:

Cool coffee setup! I have the larger capacity version that drips into an insulated carafe. Makes great coffee.

 

 Very true -- these do make very good coffee!

[jvd99]

Springers on the shelf today (at retail). This is like a once or twice a year, right day/right time kinda thing. Auto buy for me any time this happens

 

 

[rzelinka]

I participated in a whiskey sampling last night. One of the 3 offerings was an Irish Whiskey. The one they provided was Teeling. I'm not a fan of Irish Whiskey, but it was not the worst whiskey I have tasted.

[Scotch_Collector]

 

Just picked this up. Excited to try it. Not a big Irish Whiskey guy as they are generally lighter/milder in the flavor department. However, rum and PX Sherry finish got me interested as did cask strength. I was getting a scotch I was interested in from the same shop and figured I'd give it a go. $70 for a cask strength Irish Whiskey is good, especially if it is a good pour. 

 

I have The Wild Rover, by High N' Wicked and it is good, but did not blow me away. I felt it didn't really know what it wanted to be and the PX notes are not strong. 

 

I will try the Killowen in the next couple of days and report. 

Edited Saturday at 03:04 PM by Scotch_Collector

[Scotch_Collector]

4 hours ago, Scotch_Collector said:

 

Just picked this up. Excited to try it. Not a big Irish Whiskey guy as they are generally lighter/milder in the flavor department. However, rum and PX Sherry finish got me interested as did cask strength. I was getting a scotch I was interested in from the same shop and figured I'd give it a go. $70 for a cask strength Irish Whiskey is good, especially if it is a good pour. 

 

I have The Wild Rover, by High N' Wicked and it is good, but did not blow me away. I felt it didn't really know what it wanted to be and the PX notes are not strong. 

 

I will try the Killowen in the next couple of days and report. 

Good pour. Impressed for Irish Whiskey. Very smooth (drinks like it is less than 55% ABV) but good flavors without being overpowering. I tend to like strong flavors but wasn't expecting that here. 

 

The nose is misleading. It is strong and initially smells like rum and raisin as the name says. After it opens up for a few minutes you get more of the PX notes - raisin, grape, fig, date, etc. however the rum notes are still present. 

 

If a traditional Irish Whiskey is a 3/10 on flavor, this is a 5.5/10. You get rum funk balanced with sherry sweetness without being to sweet. This is not a sticky sweet whiskey at all. A little sweet, but the rum notes pull away from the PX sweetness and not in a bad way. 

 

Overall, balanced and totally worth the price. I do not have anything like it, thus making it a worthwhile purchase. 

 

7.75/10 overall, but as Irish Whiskey goes, it's a higher score. 

[Kepler]

On 5/9/2025 at 10:50 AM, rzelinka said:

I participated in a whiskey sampling last night. One of the 3 offerings was an Irish Whiskey. The one they provided was Teeling. I'm not a fan of Irish Whiskey, but it was not the worst whiskey I have tasted.

 

Teeling is good quality Irish whiskey.  I've liked everything that I've tried from them so far.  Most of their stuff came from the Cooley distillery, I suppose (but I'm not an expert on Teeling, nor on on Irish whiskey in general, so take with a grain of salt).  But it's excellent stuff.

 

However, I do feel qualified enough to strongly recommend Powers John's Lane 12 Year and pretty much any Redbreast Irish whiskey (except for the RB 80 proof 12 Year -- just skip that one because it's way too thin).  It's simply hard to beat Redbreast Cask Strength 12 year.

 

 

Edited 21 hours ago by Kepler

[Kepler]

15 hours ago, Scotch_Collector said:

 

Just picked this up. Excited to try it. Not a big Irish Whiskey guy as they are generally lighter/milder in the flavor department. However, rum and PX Sherry finish got me interested as did cask strength. I was getting a scotch I was interested in from the same shop and figured I'd give it a go. $70 for a cask strength Irish Whiskey is good, especially if it is a good pour. 

 

I have The Wild Rover, by High N' Wicked and it is good, but did not blow me away. I felt it didn't really know what it wanted to be and the PX notes are not strong. 

 

I will try the Killowen in the next couple of days and report. 

 

I haven't seen that one before.  Have you ever tried the Redbreast PX edition?  I'm a HUGE fan of RB PX for the price.  If so, how does the Killowen compare?