Irish whiskey wouldn’t be Irish whiskey without an existential crisis. Frankly, Ireland wouldn’t be Ireland without that angst (please check your correspondent’s surname before objecting). Not that long ago, the island was down to two distilleries. Now, with Waterford Distillery going into receivership, there are fears there are too many.
However, the Irish tea-towel equivalent of “keep calm and carry on” is “feck it, sure, it’s grand” and at no time is that more of a mantra than on 17 March.
What Irish whiskey always has going for it is its variety, from mixed mash bills, via different stills, to ageing in unusual woods. Try these very different options on St Patrick’s Day and keep the snakes away.
Green Spot 2013 Single Cask (56.6% ABV; £180)
Pot still is the signature of Irish whiskey – a mixed-grain mash bill (which went on to influence bourbon) but distilled in the single-malt way (essentially, in a massive kettle). Dawn Davies, buying director at The Whisky Exchange, explains its appeal: ‘The addition of unmalted barley and other grains, combined with the wonderful weight and richness that the pot still gives, adds a level of complexity and fruit that makes these whiskies just delicious.’ Green Spot 10-year-old is a stalwart of Irish pot-still whiskey – in the doldrum years, it was the only one remaining. This version is a limited edition of 237 bottles drawn from a single cask (ex-bourbon, to be precise) and is exclusive to The Whisky Exchange from 3 March. It offers fragrant fruit on the nose – tangerine and apricot – followed by a palate of vanilla and caramelised apple, with gentle cinnamon spice.
spotwhiskey.com; thewhiskyexchange.com
Bushmills 15YO Single Malt (40% ABV; £49.50)
Bushmills may be a single-malt distiller in Northern Ireland, but don’t be fooled into thinking it’s a pale imitation of distilleries at the other end of the Giant’s Causeway. Antrim’s Bushmills uses Irish barley, water that has flowed through the same basalt rock that forms that nearby Unesco World Heritage site and, most importantly, triple-distils its whiskey. The new 15YO has been finished in a cognac cask, after most of its maturation taking place in ex-bourbon. The result is a real apple-crumble-and-custard whiskey on the palate, with fruit, nuts and a hint of chocolate, but the revelation is the nose, which has summer orchard floral notes fluttering by.
bushmills.com; house-of-spirits.co.uk
Powers Irish Rye (43.2% ABV; £38)
Rye has become a truly international whiskey, as the hardy grain grows across a swathe of northern latitudes. Rye was part of Irish mash bills in the 1800s, but fell out of favour. This is the country’s first recorded whiskey made from 100 per cent (malted and unmalted) rye – grown on demand in Wexford. It is matured in a mixture of virgin, first-fill and refill American oak casks – so the spiciness of the rye kick is more a sweet sriracha than a pure hot sauce. It makes a mean Irish twist on a Manhattan – a Hell’s Kitchen, if you will.
Method & Madness Hickory Wood Finish (53.8% ABV; £99.95)
Method & Madness is the dream factory of Midleton Distillery. While several of the whiskeys here (Green Spot, Jameson, Powers) are distilled in the big Cork County facility, this is strictly not. It’s a microdistillery on the grounds, operated by up-and-coming distillers such as Katherine Condon and Eva O’Doherty. One of the great freedoms of Irish whiskey is that, when the rules of production were being codified, no one thought to specify that it should be matured in oak. It just says “wood”. So, one job of M&M is to experiment with ageing in any kind of mad yoke they fancy (but in a scientific way). In this case – another exclusive to The Whisky Exchange – single pot-still Irish whiskey aged conventionally in ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks is finished in hickory. Not all woods give the effect you’d expect (Brummell has heard some horror stories) but, here, the hickory does give the whiskey a delicious nose of soft smoke and cured meats, with a touch of honeycomb and cacao nibs, salted caramel and smoked almonds on the palate. If you’re feeling decadent, it gives an amazing twist to an Irish coffee.
methodandmadnesswhiskey.com; thewhiskyexchange.com
Jameson Triple Triple Chestnut (40% ABV; £29)
This is the roll-out of an idea that was first trialled as a Method & Madness bottling – ageing in the notoriously tricky chestnut wood. As a Jameson bottling, the classic blend of triple-distilled pot still and grain whiskeys is aged in three different casks (hence Triple Triple) – ex-bourbon, ex-oloroso and a restrained amount of chestnut (so it does not overwhelm). This way, you do get sweet nuttiness and dark chocolate turned up in the mix. Jameson has a history of elevating its standard whiskey with a subtle (and inexpensive) tweak – remember Caskmates Stout Edition – and this is another bottling that delivers flavour beyond its price point.
