Irish Whiskey

This post is Thomas Michl owed, who certainly could not bear it if I write about whiskey and completely ignore the Irish relatives. It will certainly annoy him enough that Kilbeggan is not, or rather not yet, one of my favorite Irish brands.

My journey of discovery into Irish whiskeys began in 1988 with Tullamore Dew on an evening in Hanover that I will not soon forget. The level of awareness of Irish whiskeys was not that great even back then, since the producers, in contrast to their Scottish counterparts, probably recognized the importance of marketing too late and, moreover, initiated the move away from industrial mass production trimmed purely for quantity much later. So it was a great pleasure when Irish friends invited us to the opening of the Tullamore Dew Visitor Center and I learned that this whiskey is now being produced almost back to where it originated. That means in a few years I will be able to reach for a glass of Tullamore Dew again, which was also distilled on site.

Tullamore Dew, was first distilled in the Tullamore distillery in 1829 and, interestingly, since 2010 has belonged to the distillery group William Grant & Sons, including the owners of the very well-known Scottish Glenfiddich whiskey.

Since whiskey or whiskey, whether from Ireland or the USA, was hardly a “cult drink” from the 1950s to the 1990s, it is not surprising that the Tullamore distillery, like most other distilleries During these years, it was closed in 1954 and from then on the Tullamore Dew brand was produced industrially and in other distilleries as required.

The same happened with the Locke's Distillery, which burns the aforesaid Kilbeggan. It was closed in 1957 and has only been distilling whiskey again with new owners since 2007; for this it claims the title of the oldest Irish distillery, since it can be proven that it distilled its first whiskey as early as 1757.

In the 1970s, there was actually only one distillery in Ireland that produced whiskey as needed and it took longer than in Scotland to build up a corresponding infrastructure in Ireland from the 1990s onwards.

When I concentrated more on the single malt from Scotland from 1990, because there after all the years of "insignificance" first and mostly smaller distilleries had started to give the whiskey individual notes and their own characters again, I discovered my bis shortly afterwards today's personal favorites from Ireland, namely the Bushmills Whiskey Old Bushmills Distillery, which was also available as a single malt back then. This distillery is one of the oldest whiskey distilleries and has a tradition going back more than 400 years. The one I introduced yesterday Johnnie Walker whiskey turns 200 years old this year. Although the Bushmills house brand is also a blend, I would rather recommend the Bushmills 10, a single malt that has matured in bourbon and sherry casks for 10 years. The other brands, which mature in barrels for up to 21 years, occasionally also in Madeira barrels, are certainly a good choice, but I personally tend to prefer the single malt from Scotland and Japan.

The limited and special bottlings that are becoming more and more fashionable everywhere and also at Bushmills are more something for today's collectors or for those who then enjoy such drinks "on the rocks" or together with cola and a cigar that is as thick as possible. I was not at all enthusiastic about a brand that was probably a bit younger, which mixed the single malt whiskey with Irish honey, and I didn't like this mixture very much even as Jim Beam Honey, a bourbon whiskey.

But if you like drinking whiskey, which tastes peaty like some single malts from Scotland and develops a strong taste of its own, I recommend the brand Connemara, whose whiskey, like most Scotch, is distilled only twice in contrast to other Irish whiskeys. I recommend grabbing the 12-year-old whiskey right away, and if you like it, you can stick with it with a clear conscience.

Last but not least I have to go to the Jameson come to speak of my friend and comrade Ronan Corcoran is convinced that it is the only whiskey in the world that can be used to prepare a decent Irish coffee. And anyone who has ever had an Irish coffee prepared by Ronan will never, ever doubt it.

Jameson was founded in Dublin in 1780 and distilled there in Bow Street until 1971. Even though there are now a wide variety of bottlings of all ages, I recommend sticking with the original blend. I always have a bottle of it on hand because I never know when and who might want a good Irish coffee.