I am so, so, happy that Bushmills is putting out things like this Bushmills Rare Casks 29 Years PX Finish. I’m even happier that they aren’t neutering them with low proof and chill-filtering. They’re letting the whiskey come out of the cask and speak for itself in its most natural form. And that’s awesome. Some of you are going to scream at the price, like I did, but it’s the state of the whiskey world we’re in. Remember when you could just stroll into a store and grab Weller 12 off the bottom shelf for $22? I certainly do, it was my house whiskey for years. But now… Let’s just get to drinkin ..read more

Bushmills Prohibition Recipe Irish Whiskey, aka the Peaky Blinders Bushmill, was released specifically for the last season of the show. The bottle is a blue-tinted throw back, the label has a vintage design, but the whiskey… the whiskey is something kind of new. The whiskey in the bottle is essentially Bushmills White, with the oldest whisky in it being 5-years-old, but it’s delivered at 46%, instead of 40%. Oh, and it’s non chill-filtered… and what a difference that 6% and NCF makes. Not just on the flavor and aroma, but on the texture which combines to create an experience that is a signifi ..read more

Bushmills 12 Years Single Malt is the latest, permanent, release from the venerable distillery. It’s made using a marriage of 11+-year-old ex-Bourbon and ex-Oloroso casks that have been married and finished in ex-Marsala casks for 6-9 months. In a way, it’s like a baby Bushmills 21, or Bushmills 16, but with Marsala instead of Madeira or Port. I love Bushmills… LOVE Bushmills. I’ve been a fan for over a decade and a half and I think they create not only some of the best Irish Whiskey, but some of the best sipping whiskey period… I just wish they’d bottle at least at 46% and NCF. I’ve though t ..read more

Roe and Co Irish Whiskey is currently sourced, but will soon be made from their own distillate which must be aged for at least 3 years by Irish law. In 2019, Diageo built the distillery inside of the old Guinness power house, which isn’t too far from where the original Roe distillery (Thomas Street Distillery) was before it closed in 1926 due to hardships brought on by the American Prohibition. The current Guinness Brewery is using buildings it bought from Roe when the distillery closed. Prohibition in America was devastating to the Irish Whiskey producers and is largely what brought down so ..read more

The last in the USA releases is the Waterford Gaia 1.1 and unlike the Dunbell, Dunmore or Rathclogh this is not from a single farm – this is signified by it having a blue top instead of a yellow/amber one. Part of the Arcadian series, the Organic Gaia release is the youngest of the releases and is a blend of barley from six different farms. Gaia is more akin to a traditionally made single malt where the grain comes from many different farms and gets blended together somewhere along the process. The biggest difference here is that the grain is sourced wholly from organic farms in Ireland makin ..read more

Today we’re tackling an Irish Whiskey review, but not just any old Irish Whiskey: the Knappogue Castle Marchesi Di Barolo Cask. Which is the third release in Knappogue’s Cask Finish series. The first two being the Knappogue Château Pichon Baron release followed by the Knappogue Marco De Bartoli Marsala release, which was quite tasty. It’s cool to see them trying new and different cask finishes we don’t see in the general market let alone the Irish Whiskey market. It’s also cool to see them name the actual source of the casks which is often, and oddly, a closely guarded secret by distilleries ..read more

Take some standard Jameson Irish Whiskey, add some Arabica coffee from Brazil and Colombia and you get the Jameson Cold Brew. And, the best part is… no added sugar. This low ABV coffee and whiskey drink is awesome in coffee or on its own with some ice and a splash of heavy cream. But we’re not to talk about it mixed, we’re here to talk about it straight out of the bottle – neat. I know I’m ruining the review a tad by saying I like it up here, but I don’t give scores to flavored whiskey and that’s essentially what this is, so there won’t be a score at the bottom. Instead, this is just my thoug ..read more

There is a lot of third-party Irish Whiskey on the market, it’s a huge area for NDPs like this Fighting 69th Irish Whiskey to play in and it’s been that way for a while. It used to be you could be fairly sure it came from Cooley, but those days have passed and it’s getting harder and harder to figure out where the whiskey actually comes from. Though if I had to hazard a guess on this one, it would be West Cork. They seem to be picking the reigns of Cooley and have been the source (named or assumed) for several other brands. Though obviously without confirmation, this is just a guess based on ..read more

And now for the Busker Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey. I love seeing the growth in the SPS market, it’s one of my favorite styles of whiskey and with so many new distilleries popping up and putting stuff out it’s going to be an expansive and diverse segment in no time. This is the third and final ingredient in the Busker Triple Cask Irish Whiskey. When thinking about the order to review them in I decided to go with how I think the blend is constructed: Largely grain, followed by a the single malt component and finally the single pot still. And so here we are, at the end of this fun and tasty ..read more

This is not a whiskey you can find today outside of an auction house, private seller or specialty store. Jameson Pure Pot Still 15 Years was the precursor to the Redbreast 15 and was only available at the Jameson gift shop. I got to try it thanks to a generous friend who shared it with me this last St. Paddy’s (thanks Marshall!). It’s Midleton Pure Pot Still whiskey (now called Single Pot Still), aged for 15 years in ex-Bourbon and ex-Sherry casks and then cut down to 40% and chill-filtered. The obvious comparison is its successor the RB15 which we’ll touch on in the Irish Whiskey review belo ..read more