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Yesterday we make some noise at Twitter. Steve Rush of The Whisky Wire invited me and around 20 more whisky lovers to a great blind tasting proposal: Glory of the Grain Tweet Tasting.
Have you tried Grain Whisky? No? Oh, so don’t read the article. Pesky beverage, don’t even pay attention to it. It doesn’t worth your time…
If you have tasted them I can no longer conceal the secret so anyway, let me show you what we tasted blindly. It was quite fun and surprising because all but one of the samples were guessed by someone. My nose isn’t so skilled on grain whisky. Pity!.
What? Not today? Damn! Hell, anyway… like if we need an excuse to have a good whiskey!.
You know St. Patrick, the holy patron of Ireland, the one that drove the snakes out of the island, the one that brought Christianity on Ireland and …
Enough writing. Let’s drink. As an old Irish saying says, “God invented whiskey so the Irish wouldn’t rule the world!”
As my contribution to the Irish whiskey let’s do a whiskey walk around Ireland. And as Sjoerd has told me several times I better state it right here and now: I love Single Pot Still Irish whiskey ( I just can’t stand their cheap blends ).
I was at London just a few months ago for TWE Whisky Show and as I arrived too late for entering the show I decided to grab my camera and walk a bit around. Talking with some friends they told me not to miss Milroy’s of Soho and so there I was.
While I was on the shop I noticed, between the hundred of awesome whisky bottles, a few single cask bottlings by Milroy’s. To buy or not to buy. That was the question. Nevermind Ryanair replied it for me as I was traveling with hand luggage only ( stupid security rules! ) and I would be force to either drop or drink the bottle at the airport.
So you can understand my joy when Steve Rush announced a Milroy’s Tweet Tasting ( Who of you prefers twasting? ) for Dec, 12th and I was told I were to join fellow bloggers in it.
The tasting was driven by Steve and 17 more chaps has joined to enjoy it. Lots of known faces at the tasting like @rodbodtoo @fr1day @whiskyrepublic @TIA568B @ifotou and @steveprentice
The Whisky Exchange Whisky Show 2012 took place at October 6th and 7th and although it has been a great experience it has been a short one. With over 450 whiskies to taste and just barely six hours ahead it was impossible to taste them all.
What I couldn’t taste
This post is just a set of photos of what I couldn’t taste. Sorry, people… I can write about this because I get sad… so great stuff that I had to skip… *sniff*
I visited Compass Box stand for saying hi to Chris and I take a few photos with the people on the show.
Created by Cooley distillery, the last of the Irish independent distillers before Beam Global bought them.
This Tyrconnell whiskey was aged in American oak before being finished in Port wood, this Tyrconnell offers a great balance, with lots of jammy thickness.
I would sooner drink Chivas 12 years old than the cheapest Jameson or Tullamore Dew but if you are on a small budget and still want to do it the Irish way…
This past Wednesday, March, 7th, we had another great twasting (twitter tasting) night with Steve Rush, from The Whisky Wire, and Noel Sweeney, who works as master distiller in Cooley distilleries.
The tasting proposal was Kilbeggan, Tyrconnell Single Malt, Greenore 8 years old and Connemara Single Malt Peated Irish Whiskey.
I have tasted them on the past, but it was a nice chance to have then a new look and see how this young distillery is progressing, now under the hand of Jim Beam.
If you are new to Irish whiskey, know before hand that they craft whiskies in a different way of Scotch and that the aroma profile is different, more dry and floral usually.
Cooley has been a new player in the big Irish whiskey monopoly as Irish Distillers has been controlling all the existing distilleries in Ireland until 1980s. Established in 1987 to restore ancient brands of once best-selling Irish whiskeys. Right now there are three big players in the Irish whiskey arena:
Jameson
Bushmills
Cooley
And Cooley has been making great marks on most international competitions.
Cooley tasting
Kilbeggan
We started with Kilbeggan, a blended irish whiskey, after some initial confusion about starting with Greenore 8 years old.
My previous date with this Kilbeggan wasn’t exactly nice: light whisky, floral and dry. Well, I have to say that although Kilbeggan isn’t yet my kind of whisky it is a big improvement over the one that I tasted two years ago.
“Nice light irish whiskey with lots of floral notes.”
82
Kilbeggan Irish Whiskey first appeared as a John Locke's brand over 100 years ago and was sold successfully until Locke's distillery ceased production in the 1950's.
Locke's distillery is the oldest continuously licensed whiskey distillery in the world dating back to 1757.
This whiskey is now distilled by Cooley who recently released a version of this whiskey distilled at the Kilbeggan distillery.
This dram has a gold-like color.
Nose (79): average.
honey, vanilla, floral, mint, toffee.
Tyrconnell is named after a race horse that won a race with odds 100:1 and it is a single malt Irish whiskey. Last time I tasted it, I was greatly impressed, a very nice single malt. This new version seems somewhat younger with a strong Cooley fingerprint: floral notes and spices. It is a good whisky but not as good as I remember.
“The nose is very promising, but taste is quite dry and herbal. Nice, but not my kind of whiskey.”
84
The Tyrconnell Single Malt Irish whiskey is characterised by its elegant and balanced taste profile.
It retains the smooth, sweet taste normally associated with Irish whiskey but with its own distinctive character. The result is Tyrconnell's beautiful fresh, malty, fruity bouquet, smooth sweet taste and delicate dry finish.
One of the most celebrated Irish whiskeys ever produced winning a gold medal at the Great Taste Awards in 2009 , gold medal & best in class at the IWSC 2009.
This dram has a gold-like color.
Nose (84): more than average.
honey, vanilla, fruits, raisins, biscuits, cinnamon.
Palate (85): light, smooth.
honey, floral, herbal, green pears, spices.
Finish (83): longer than average.
floral, wood, honey.
So based on other whiskies I have already tasted I rate this Tyrconnell Irish Whiskey with 84 points over 100.
Buy this bottle at
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If Bourbon and Irish whiskey ever marry their daughter would be like this! I like a lot this whiskey, unique in its category: single grain irish whiskey.
It is a very nice grain whisky, but after rating George T Stagg or some of The Clan Danny jewels I have a different, better, point of view. Nonetheless I enjoy this one.
“Tropical fruits infused bourbon with a citrosy touch. Looks like ten years old bottled at around 45%. Interesting whisky”
86
Greenore Single Grain is a truly unique whiskey as it is the only expression of Irish Single Grain whiskey in the world.
Single Grain whiskeys are very rare as most grain whiskey is normally mixed with Malt whiskeys to make Blended whiskey. Grain whiskey is made from maize/corn and provides a lot of the smoothness people associate with Irish whiskey.
Think of this whiskey as the nose of a bourbon and the taste of irish whiskey. Right! Just delicious.
This dram has a fino-like color.
Nose (86): more than average.
citrus, honey, pepper, floral, fruity, papaya.
Finish (85): longer than average.
honey, wood, spices, corn.
So based on other whiskies I have already tasted I rate this Greenore 8 year with 86 points over 100.
Connemara
Finally we had the only peated irish whiskey, Connemara. We tasted the NAS expression that, without being in the level of Islay monsters, is a rather interested peated whisky with notes of herbs and banana. Only for peat-heads.
“Very nice irish whiskey, soft fruity peat at its highest splendor”
87
Connemara produce a peated Irish single malt, named for the area in Ireland.
Distilled at Cooley distillery in Cork, Ireland. The last of the independent irish distilleries before it was bought by Beam Global.
Connemara is a peated whisky, not in the style of Islay peat monsters but more like the Japanese Hakushu. Smoky and slightly peated with an awesome amount of fruits. It won't disappoint you.
This dram has a gold-like color.
Nose (86): more than average.
peat, fruits, floral, citrus, bananas.
Peated but overall this irish whiskey smells very fruity.
Share your thoughts! 
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