Tasting & Ranking 5 Irish Whiskeys | How to Drink

Top of the morning to you at St. Patrick's day. We're tasting Irish whiskey on this week's edition of how to drink went right out of my mouth and just shot straight out of my lips. They're indicative of a serious drinking problem. Jesus. So I've got five Irish whiskeys I want to taste. Let's let's taste them. I'm just going to taste them. And of course, as I said before, as I've said numerous times, I'm not a Somalier. I don't know all the lingo for tasting notes. I just know what things taste like to me. So let's start this thing off. Let's taste a little whiskey. I'm going to start with Tullamore Dew. Let's read the label established in 1829 became home to a man of legendary status, Daniel E Williams. He perfected a whiskey of exceptional quality that was good enough to bear his initials. Triple distillation guarantees the ultimate smoothness aging this unique blend for many years in Oloroso sherry and old bourbon oak casks brings out character and flavor that continues to win awards year after year. I like the sound of that Oloroso sherry casks and bourbon. I'll do like that though. Smooth smoothness. I'm fairly certain you don't hear a lot of Somaliers talk about the smoothness of a whiskey. I think that's just marketers. I'm not really sure what it means otherwise, but I know that the label says there's a lot of smoothness going on in here. So maybe it's smooth. Let's give myself a little snort, a wee dram, caramel, sweet and vanilla. I do get a little acetone on that sniff. Definitely has a little heat to it. Definitely a prickles the sides of my tongue. They're definitely tingles. Nice caramel finish. I like that. I would say it's kind of spicy up front, like a spicy vanilla. That makes any sense, but it's kind of weird. Very, um, taste it with your nose. Very, very hot, very warm flavor notes in there. I get a lot of the caramel, a little bit of burnt sugar, some vanilla, but not much. I think I'm getting some, some kind of, uh, over steeped tea notes. I think there's some of that in there. Let's, uh, drop a drop of water in there and see if that improves it any or if it reveals other flavors that were hidden before. Well, certainly dulls the fire. No new notes, just kind of less of what was there before. It's just sort of like turning down the volume, so to speak. There's a slight flavor that I think I can only really describe as kind of slightly leathery flavor. It's not a comforting or pleasing kind of leather, but if I really try to be truly as objective as I can about what it is that I'm tasting, I think I would say it's like having a mouthful of leather. It's not leather like, Oh, a comfy couch. Not that it's like there's leather in my mouth. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Not a bad whiskey, but definitely not a great whiskey. Sorry. Jameson Irish whiskey, triple distilled since 1780, triple distilled matured and bottled in Ireland. Our family motto, Sinnameto, Sinnameto means without fear in 1780, it inspired John Jameson to found his distillery at Bow street. Today it inspires us to carry on his legacy. Smooth whiskey. There's that smooth. Here's to a motto being more than words imported by blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. One liter barcode. Okay. I guess I would say that's more caramel and sugar notes. Okay. So I'm sorry to tell them more, but between the two, I like the Jameson better. I'm certain that their sugar content is similar, but the first thing I would say is that this is sweeter than the Tullamore. Yeah. I get a little caramel and butter, maybe even butterscotch, a little spiciness, a little bit of pepper. Maybe, maybe. So very little vanilla. I think that the Tullamore had more vanilla. Let me go for another little sip here. A little bit more in there. The water this time, this is nothing against Jameson. It's not Jameson's fault at all. Uh, when I was a kid, my grandmother used to make me go clothing shopping every so often, basically once a year at a discount clothing store called Sims, S Y M S. It's not around anymore, but Jameson has a slight Sims smell to it. Or maybe Sims had a slight Jameson smell to it. Now I have to wonder about that. It's a big store. It's old school. You go into the dressing room and you didn't have like a private booth. It was just a big room full of old men getting dressed together. Learned a lot about life in that room. It's like bubble gum action there. A little bit of double bubble caramel, more caramel, a little brown sugar. That's kind of what I get throughout it. I would say there's some, some subtle bitterness probably from the oak, the tannins. Not bad. Not bad. Uh, between the two, I guess I prefer the Jameson. Uh, we're moving into some upmarket whiskeys. This is the green spot single pot still Irish whiskey triple distilled from a tradition dating to 1805 comes the inspiration for green spot single pot still Irish whiskey. Once almost extinct. This legendary whiskey is a rare taste of pot still Irish whiskey at its best matured and American bourbon and sherry casks. This is a whiskey of immense flavor and complexity. A splendid choice. Pour myself a bit of the green spot here. It's nice. It's got kind of a new car smell. It's not really true, but, but maybe a little bit actually. Kind of kind of in a way. Do I look cool like this? Oh man, there's a big hole in my elbow. And you can all see it now. How long has that been visible? So that's weird. This is really weird. Both of these they hit your mouth and they feel hot. They just feel sensationally hot. This actually feels cold to my mouth right away. And that's, I mean, it's the exact same temperature. All of these have been kept at room temperature for a couple of days now. Salty. I get salt up front and then that gives way to like spicy, spicy kind of bite with some like banana funk actually believe it or not for me and then spicy, spicy, spicy, spicy cinnamon, cinnamon and, and pepper. No, no caramel on that one for me or vanilla. None of those like those kind of bourbon nuts throw a little bit of water in there. That's very mellow. That's nice. I like that a lot just the way it is right now. All the edges are rounded on it. So to speak, there's no real bite. So to speak, definitely no acetate notes. Pleasant. Cool. If I, if I may, a cool kind of sensation that goes along into a, um, into like spicy peppery rye kind of notes. I know, I don't know if that's right or not, but if I had to say it like, yeah, Caraway ish kind of a rye loaf of bread kind of thing happening, but you know, sideways kind of way, you know, some banana ish kind of fruity notes as well. I like that one. I like that one a fair bit. We're moving on. Get swifty. Pull down your pants on the floor. Get swifty. Uh, let's go crazy. Let's do kind of Mara. Now they don't mess around. They don't, there's nothing, no marketing anything on here. They don't tell you anything about the tasting. Kind of Mara doesn't care what you think. Okay. So far, big points from how to drink. You invested in a sonically beautiful cork. Whoa. All right. That's like spank you in the face. Leather strop leather. That is leathery. That smells like someone took a horse's saddle and set it on fire. Lots of leather and smoke there. Definitely get that Pete right away. Whoa. Well, I like that. Wow. Okay. So here's my deal. I'm drank. Oh man, that's great evolution. It goes forever. This is very much a sip and whiskey. I'm going to come back to the tasting notes in a second. The first thing I want to get off my chest is I've tasted the big three Islas, the um, Oh my God, it's still evolving. It just turns into malt. It's so good. I like this better than an Isla scotch, if that makes any sense. This Peted Irish whiskey to me, the kind of Mara so far, this is more to my taste from one of the Isla scotches of Scotland. What do I mean? Why? It's a little bit more subtle. Um, the nose is very in your face, but the flavor profile actually unfolds. I think a little more slowly. It's a lot less pungent if that's the right word. It doesn't come at you all at once. It sort of unfolds over a moment or two. I like that a lot. Once again, this is cool to the taste. Whereas these two were hot, unusual, briny kind of saltiness right up front and settles into smoky leather. Nice evolution there. And then the smoke subsides very quickly into just leather, leather, leather, leather, leather. And that just kind of keeps going. But here it starts evolving into a kind of a malty caramel real malty now. That is a hell of an evolution. That is awesome. I'm really into that whiskey. Oh, and then the brine comes back at the very end at the very end. I don't know if I brought that back just by throwing some air through my throat. I may have reawakened some of those, um, those molecules. Hell man, that's cool. I'm gonna throw another little splash and just try that with a drop of water in it and see if there's a big difference, but that doesn't need it. Honestly, despite it's kind of upfront smoky peatiness, this one is, I mean, to my taste anyway, the smoothest of the four so far. Okay. Same nose. Sweet. It just turns sweet, but smoke leather. That's interesting. That drop of water really cuts the briny aspect of it and converts it so that instead of the brine up front, you get the sweet malt up front. And then everything else so far is pretty much the same. We get nice strong leather, sweet, slithery, sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet notes. Holy shit. That's cool, man. That is a, that's a great whiskey. Goddamn. I did not expect to like this because I like Isla whiskeys as a kind of a curiosity, but they're not like comfort food for me. They're not like easy for me to drink. Um, the scotches of Isla, um, this really surprised me. I have to say, I'm kind of blown away. I'm gonna have a sip of water now, despite the fact that the sensation of having that lingering in my mouth is continuing to provide really unusual flavor and be very enjoyable. I have to rinse it out and clear my throat to taste our next whiskey. Let's get into the Red Breast, 12 year. Let's read the label. Matured in the finest oak casts Irish distillers, Middleton distillery, Middleton County of Cork. Unique among whiskeys, Red Breast 12 is a single pot still Irish whiskey comprising exclusively of pot still whiskeys, which have been triple distilled and matured in oak casts for not less than 12 years. That's fantastic. And uncompromising dedication to quality and to the enduring tradition of Irish pot still whiskey is the hallmark of Red Breast. So some marketing speak on there, but it's not too heavy handed. There's a tight cork. Let's try that one more time. We should do a whole series called the cork review. All right, now we're going to taste the Red Breast. Hmm. That is a great nose. What is that? Kind of a sweet, um, homey smell like baking bread. Smells a little bit like baking bread. I like that. That is nice. That is cool to your lips, sweet and malty and just kind of a one note. Well, that's unfair, but it's just kind of nice and sweet and malty and it lingers and hangs out for a while. It's a little bit of spice. And then at the very end here, I'm catching just the faintest amount of like that smoke, that peat leather taste. Faint. I mean, faint to the point where it honestly, it could be residual from my last sip. Yeah. Cool. Like baking bread would be warm, but if you can imagine a cold version of that, that's kind of what that smells like to me, to me. I don't know. This is all subjective and it comes up. It comes in like, it tastes like nothing at first and then you feel the volume turning up malty kind of sweetness and it hangs out. I like that one a lot. A little water. Now I don't expect there to be a great transformation here, but let's see. Nope. Just the same notes with the volume turned down. So for me, my two favorites are the Connemara and the Red Breast and that's really no surprise. They're the most expensive two bottles out here. I definitely have champagne tastes in a beer budget. I think that the Red Breast is more of an everyday whiskey for me. The Connemara is a special occasions whiskey. I really love this Connemara. I was really surprised by it and maybe being surprised by it was my favorite thing about it. I wasn't really sure what to expect. I'd known that it was peated and PT, but it was in a way that was so subtle and balanced that I really thought it was just surprisingly drinkable. Darby O'Gill and the Little People. Y'all ever see that movie? 1950s Disney film. I suppose I'm the only man alive today to have rolled in the Costa Bar and come back to tell it. Well, my grandmother had a VHS of it. I wore that thing out. I watched it so many times when I was a kid. Story of a Darby O'Gill, a groundskeeper at a great estate who spends most of his time in the pub telling tall tales about meeting the leprechauns. King, King Brian. Go and find yourself. And if it's music you're after, what about a song? A song? Do you know the wishing song? I do not. Of course, he's trying to fix up Katie with the new groundskeeper who's come to take his job, played by a very young Sean Connery. She is my dear, my darling one, my smilin' and big island one. A really cool movie for use of forced perspective. Will we have another round? There's nothing stopping us. Good. And it's fantastic. The sight lines always line up. They did a phenomenal job creating an illusion of a world surrounded by leprechauns who are six to 10 inches tall. One of the cool things about it too is it's one of the only films I've seen that really dives into Irish folklore. The Banshee. What is its name? The Death Wagon. You know, and once it comes to our world, it can't go back empty. It's got to bring somebody with it. So I managed to find a movie to put in there. Great. Today, all I did was taste whiskey. Connemara, Red Breast, Greenspot, Jamieson, Tullamore. So we tasted some Irish whiskey for St. Patrick's Day. I hope you're having a great one. If you like the show, please subscribe. I tweet at how to drink. I'm on Instagram at how to drink. I have a Patreon at patreon.com slash how to drink. And if you're looking for extras and behind the scenes things and live streams, well, that's kind of where that's going to be. There's a new episode every Friday, right here at how to drink. See you guys next Friday. I'm going to pour myself a bit more. Did I mention that Connemara had the best cork of all of these? Ooh.