The Irishman Founder's Reserve - A More Complex Irish Dram

So you're in the liquor store, looking for a gift for friend who likes Irish whiskey, and you spot the bottles of The Irishman Founder's Reserve, and you go "Hey, something new - I bet so-and-so will love it!"

You'll want to check yourself right there and ask: "Does so-and-so like whiskey, or does so-and-so only particularly like the 'standard Irish whiskey'?"

Because while TIFR is a whiskey from Ireland, and it is triple distilled like other Irish whiskey's, it's flavor profile is not that of the "standard Irish whiskey" as codified by Jameson's, Tullamore Dew and the like.

The flavor reminds me more of a light single malt scotch. There's more weight to the mouthfeel and more oak to the flavor than I associated with the "standard Irish Whiskey" flavor profile.

Part of how they get that flavor is in the distillation process, as they distill everything - the barley malt whiskey and the other grain whiskies that make up the final blend, in pot stills. Normally, the non-barley malt whiskies get run through a continuous still, which creates a different flavor profile from a pot still (pot still may capture/produce more esters) as well being able to distill to a higher alcohol concentration. From the company website:

"The proportions used are 70% Single Malt and 30% Single Pot Still...the only Irish blended whiskey to contain 100% whiskey distillates from the copper pot still..."

The careful reader will note that the don't actually say what's in the mash for that 30% single pot still whiskey. A careful reader will also wonder at this statement "...a blend of two styles, Single Malt and Single Pot Still", which frankly seems like deliberately obfuscatory marketing mush. Because, you see, in this case only difference between the styles is in the mash, not the still.

Reading through the company site a little more, one discovers a very American Bourbon touch to the operation: the actual whiskey is distilled for them under contract by Irish Distillers. This type of arrangement is common in the US, where there is a huge proliferation of bourbon brands, but only a small number of actual distilleries producing the raw spirt. That said, there's ample proof that this approach can work well - it's what the makers of Angel's Envy and Hirsch Small Batch Reserve Bourbon do, and they turn out a superior product. And definite bonus pounts to "The Irishman folks for being up front about it, instead of hiding behind a cloud of marketing BS the way Anchor Distilling does with the Hirsch Small Batch Reserve.

TIFR, once it finishes the marketing confused distillation process, is aged in ex-Bourbon casks for an unspecified period of time, before the casks are married together. The resulting spirit is watered down from cask strength to 80 proof (40% abv) for bottling.

Neat, the nose is astringent. With a splash of water, that resolves into oak with some dashes of sweetness, but still the astringency remains.

Colorwise, TIFR weighs as a darker amber than the Jameson's and Tullarmore Dew's of the whiskey world.

As mentioned before, though, the flavor is where TIFR departs most radically from the "standard Irish whiskey" script. The sweet notes that start the dram don't last long before being taken over by pepper and oak that hang on for a reasonably long finish. For tongue expecting the sweet simplicity associated with most Irish whiskey, the spicier nature, more complex flavors and slightly heavier mouthfeel of TIFR is a real surprise.

If you like your whiskey with a bit of punch to the flavor, and find the standard Irish whiskies on the shelf a bit too one dimensional, The Irishman Founder's Reserve is worth a try. Likewise, if you prefer the complexities of single malt scotch, but are looking for a Irish whiskey to put on your bar for variety, you should give The Irishman Founder's Reserve a shot. At under $30 a bottle here in the US, it's a decent value for your money.

Now that I have given it a fair shot - I think an 750ml bottle consumed over several months counts as a fair shot - I'm probably not going to stock in on my bar. I have plenty of single malts for complexity, a mess of bourbons and ryes for variety, and what's missing right now is the simple and sweet counterpoint of a standard Irish whiskey.

Bushmills 10-Year-Old Single Malt - A Convivial Dram

The Bushmills 10-year-old Single Malt is a rarity in the Irish Whiskey section of your local liquor store: an all barley malt whiskey that's the product of a single distillery.

Most of your Bushmills, Tullamore Dew, Jamesons and other Irish whiskies are blends of whiskies from different grains: barley, wheat and so on). Even the Tullamore Dew Special Reserve I reviewed earlier is a blended whiskey.

Of course, one of the reasons distillers mix in the whiskies made from other grains is to cut the cost. And you can see that reflected in the price: a regular old bottle of blended Bushmills will set you back $20 or so, but this 10-year-old single malt will cost around double that.

If it occurs to you that this sounds suspiciously like how scotch is priced and marketed...you're right. Bushmills is stealing, extremely belatedly, the whole scotch premium marketing plan, lock, stock, and barrel. Personally, I think that's a good thing.

Now, don't let that get you thinking this isn't still very much a traditional Irish whiskey. It most certainly is.

Like most Irish whiskies, the Bushmills Single is triple distilled. This makes a for a lighter, sweeter, and less complex spirit than the average scotch, which is double distilled. Whether you think this is a good or bad thing is purely a matter of personal taste. For me, it depends on the day, the weather and my mood. Sometimes I crave something really complex, and sometimes I desire a lighter, simpler spirit to warm my tastebuds and my evening.

The label says the Bushmills 10 YRO Single Malt spent its decade of aging in bourbon and oloroso sherry casks. It doesn’t say how long the spirit spends in each type of barrel. Based on the flavor, I’m guessing it spends most of its time in the bourbon barrel, with a short stay at the end in the sherry barrel, and the Bushmills website seems to back up that assessment.

In the glass, the Bushmills 10 YRO has nice golden color. Neat, I smell oak, with hints of sherry, and the bite of alcohol. Despite already being watered down to 80 proof (40% abc). prior to bottling, adding a splash of water gentles the aroma significantly, bringing up the sherry notes, exposing some honey ones, and dulling the astringent alcohol smell.

Sipped neat, it starts sweet, with some sherry notes and then some oak and alcohol bite. With a splash of water, and a little really does go a long way with this, the transitions smooth out quite nicely. As with the aroma, the sherry notes really pick up, more honey notes come through, and even a hint of chocolate, and the alcohol bite drops down to a pleasant warmth. For me, the mouthfeel also improves - somehow the little bit of extra water made it feel richer and thicker on my tongue. But it retains the classic Irish whiskey characteristics: lightish on the tongue, with a refined sweetness.

With that vital splash of water, this is probably my favorite Irish Whiskey right now. It has more character than, say, Tullamore Dew, but it still sips extremely smoothly. It makes an excellent reading or conversational companion, or balm for a series of brutal defeats at the Rummikub table, especially on warm summer nights.

In the realm of Irish Single Malts, I think this edges The Tyrconnell on flavor, though the Tyrconnell wins on price, though by how much varies from retailer to retailer. The Bushmills 10 YRO Single Malt definitely a solid buy, especially if your tastes run to the lighter side of the scotch world, or if you prefer the lighter flavors of other Irish whiskies to scotch.

Tullamore Dew Special Reserve: Tasty, but Not So Special

The regular expression of Tullamore Dew is generally my go-to standard blended Irish whiskey. It's inexpensive and I like it just a little more than Jameson's. So, I was intrigued when this new variant hit the local store shelves carrying an age statement (missing from the regular Dew's label) and a hefty 75% price premium.

According to the Tullamore Dew website, the the Special Edition Dew gets more aging, and a slightly different mix of whiskies: more malt and pot still distilled whiskey (the good stuff) and less of the non malt whiskey distilled with some other, not so marketable still type (the "meh" stuff?). Both share a mix of triple-distilled whiskies made from different grains aged in bourbon and Oloroso casks, although the Special Reserve Dew makes a big deal out of those casks on the label, and the regular Dew doesn't really mention them.

So, if you're standing there in the liquor store, torn between the $20 bottle of regular,just plain regular Dew, and the $37 bottle of the sexy Special Reserve Dew with it's age statement and promise of being aged just so in bourbon and sherry casks, which one should your trembling hand add to your basket?

It depends - do you need to impress someone who doesn't read this site?

Buy the Special Reserve Dew.

Do you want to explore the subtle differences between whiskey that's at least 12 years old, vs whiskey of a presumably younger, but indeterminate age?

Again, buy the Special Reserve Dew.

Are you looking for the best value for your whiskey dollar?

Buy the regular Dew.

Alternately, if you're looking to spend in the price range of the Special Reserve Dew and are attracted by the sherry cask aging, go a few dollars more for an Abelour, Glenfarclas, Balvenie Double Wood, or Macallan 12 year old single malt. All of these have much richer sherry notes in their flavor.

I'm not saying the Special Reserve Dew is a bad whiskey. It most certainly is not. To my taste, though, it is not 75% better than the regular Dew...not even close to being that superior.

I say that based on sitting here, with a glass of each, side-by-side. Based on how they look in the glass, they are almost indistinguishable. They are both honey colored, with the Special Reserve being barely perceptibly darker.

Both weigh in at 80 proof (40% abv) meaning both have been watered down from cask strength. This isn't a knock - the lowered proof allows one to enjoy all the flavor available while sipping either one neat, rather than having to experiment to find the right amount of water to add.

Both have very similar aromas to my nose: sweet with a touch of sherry.

There is a discernible difference in flavor, but not a stunning one. Both are light bodied, starting with honey sweetness that quickly fades to a muted sherry and oak flavors before disappearing in a medium short finish.

The Special Reserve Dew is just a little softer, a little smoother, with a little more sherry and detectable oak and overall slightly richer flavor.

For all the mention it makes of the sherry casks on the label, the Special Reserve either spends little time in them or the sherried whiskies are a small part of the blend. You can find the flavors, but you have to think about it. If you're expecting the rich sherry flavors you find in the single malts I mentioned earlier, you'll be disappointed. (For the record, the regular Dew gets a pass here, because it doesn't make prominent mention of the sherry aging on it's label - in fact, I didn't even realize it used sherry cask aged whiskey in the mix until I was researching for this review).

Is the Special Reserve Dew better than the regular Dew? Yes.

Is it $17 or per bottle better than it's $20 a bottle younger sibling? Not to my tastes, alas. I'll be keeping the regular Dew around, but when this bottle of Special Reserve Dew is gone, I won't pay to replace it.

The Whisky Advent Calendar - Plan to Give it

 

 

This was my most excellent early Christmas present from my wife. Why am I only reviewing it now?

I had to finish it first. With parties and travel, I didn't get through all 24 days until after Christmas.

I'll jump right to the heart of the matter: when you plunk down your $247 + shipping (and they do ship to the US) for the Whisky Advent Calendar, do you get gift value commensurate to your coin?

My answer, is yes. I got 24 days of whisky discovery, a chance to sample products from more than 20 distilleries in 5 countries. The selection was mostly single malt scotch (13 of the 24 days) with the balance filled in with, blended scotches (3), bourbons (3), American malt whisky (1, from Texas), Japanese malt whisky (1 single, 1 blend), a Swedish single malt, and an Irish single malt.

There were no bad drams. There were some that I didn't enjoy as much as the others, but that's going to be the case in any sampler package.

There were also some amazing whiskies in there. I'm now plotting to get ahold of a bottle of Glencadam - the 30ml sample of the 21-year-old in the calendar seduced my taste buds with amazingly complex flavors. And finishing the 2013 edition off with a dram of 40-year-old Glenfarclas was a master stroke - now I have another entry on my "List of things to buy when I win the lottery."

So, if you're looking for a gift for a whisky fancier that will put a smile on their face for most of the month of December, start saving your pennies now for the 2014 Edition of the Whisky Advent Calendar.

I'll also point out that Masters of Malt also offers several other boozy advent calendars: the Premium Whisky ( just north of $400) made of rarer drams, two variations of GInvent Calendars for the gin enthusiast, and a Rum Advent Calendar for the pirate in your life.

Tyrconnell - Sweet Irish Single Malt

 

The Tyrconnell is a rarity in the marketplace - a single malt Irish whiskey. Most Irish whiskies you find on the shelves int he US are blends of whiskies from several different grains, and possibly  different distilleries.This includes heavyweights like Bushmills (although they do have a single malt offering) Jameson's and Tullamore Dew.

It is, by Internet reports, double-distilled, as opposed to the triple-distilling most Irish whiskies undergo. This seems to be born out in the heavier mouthfeel of the Tyrconnell when compared to a triple distilled whiskey like Tullamore Dew.

The Tyrconnell is aged for some years in oak barrels. How many? Who knows. There's no age statement on the bottle, nor on the official Website. Barrels are ready when the  master taster says they are.

Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, as barrels of whiskey in a warehouse age at different rates depending on where in the warehouse they are. Some will be ready sooner than others.

And I certainly can't complain about the end result. The Tyrconnell has a wonderful, intense fruity smell that immediately surprises. It's got a pleasant light golden color.

Taste-wise, it's a nice mix honey and fruit sweetness with just a little oiliness at the end (which seems to support the double distallation hypothesis). The finish is short - the flavors don't linger long.

I find it to be quite a pleasant dram, especially in summertime. I take mine neat. Water seems to weaken the wonderful aroma, and reduce the honey and fruit notes in the taste and bring out the alcohol flavor.

At $30 - $35 a bottle, it's a solid value in the whiskey world. It's a quite accessible drink, and makes a nice addition to the bar of somebody who wants to offer something a little different from the standard Irish whiskies most Americans are familiar with.

If you're a scotch drinker who likes Auchentoshan or Glengoyne, you'll find Tyrconnell to be most agreeable.

And a side note on globalization: Cooley Distillery used to be the last independent distillery in Ireland. It's now owned by the parent company of Jim Beam.

Historical note: the packaging claims a heritage that goes back to 1762. However, the Watt Distillery, which was the original producer of Tyrconnell, went out of business in 1925. The brand was acquired by Cooley Distillery in  1988, and subsequently the Tyrconnell was resurrected.