Irish Whiskey
A page dedicated to Irish Whiskey Reviews
Redbreast
Like Teeling, this company seems to have gone out of their way to make a whiskey that is finely crafted. They have quite a few bottlings. But the one shown here is a favorite of ours. It warms the heart. Sip it, close your eyes, and you’re walking a tow path along the Irish canals, smelling rain on the wind, hearing birds in the distance.
Jameson
Like Bushmills, Jameson is everywhere. And it’s the first distillery we visited when we made our first trip to Ireland many years ago. You find it in every bar you go into from SF to river cruise ships on the Rhone River.
But what boggles my mind is . . . how can something this mass-produced taste this good? The regular bottling has never been my favorite. But these two shown to the right have been favorites of mine (and my pocketbook) for as long as I can remember. The Black Barrel, especially, is amazingly, dusky, dark, powerful and balanced.
Teeling
These guys have a bunch of interesting bottlings. And in my mind, when I bought my first Teeling, I felt like i had stepped up to a higher level of perfection when it comes to Irish Whiskey. There are great Irish whiskeys out there that are made beautifully for mass production. But Teeling tastes like something else is happening here. Its extra craftsmanship is apparent. It just tastes like more time and attention was put into the making of this drink. These are really worth trying.
Bushmils
I have a number of other bottlings of Bushmills as well that aren’t shown here. I mean, you just can’t get more solid, standard nose and flavor than this. It’s one of the top five Irish Whiskeys that I think of when Irish whiskey is mentioned.
The original is classic, hands down. The Black Bush is similar to other black labels that are out there. Both are damn fine, sipping whiskeys.
The Quiet Man
After buying a bunch of the standards over the years, I decided to start branching out a little deeper into the well of Irish Whiskey. I hit the MissionLiquor.com site and started perusing labels and reviews. This is one of the ones that seemed to have solid ratings.
It really pleases the nose and palate with aromatics and depth of flavor. If you close your eyes when you sip it, you can imagine that you’re in a small pub in Cork, and you just relax into it.
Proper Twelve
A friend and I were talking at work about 4 years ago. She’s Irish as well. We talked about whiskey from time to time, comparing which bottlings we liked. She mentioned that on a recent trip to Ireland they’d drunk a lot of Proper Twelve. I’d never had it, so I went to TotalWine.com and found a bottle.
I fell in love with this one. It’s not more than $20 dollars at most places, but don’t let the inexpensive price make you think it’s bottom shelf. This is a whiskey with a flavor that reminds me of Ireland. I keep several bottles around.
