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.

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.

2013 Last Minute Gift Guide

So, you've let your holiday shopping go, and now you're behind the proverbial 8-ball, with Solstice and Christmas parties bearing down on you, with Christmas and Boxing day themselves just around the corner. Fortunately, in most places in the US and other developed countries, the local liquor offers a selection of gifts for the adults in your life. As an added benefit, if you choose wisely, you'll appear thoughtful and erudite, as opposed to desperate.

To that end, here are some ideas for good  gifts, and some that aren't even too dear.

A Bottle for the Party

Looking to bring something to share for the holiday party, that's distinctive, good, and not too expensive? Here are some ideas:

Old Weller Antique Reserve - Usually under $25 a bottle, and under $20 in some places, this is a great choice for parties where you know there will be bourbon drinkers.

Redemption Rye (not yet reviewed) - Price ranges from $22 - $30 a bottle. Youngish, but mature enough to be drinkable straight. It makes a great mixer for cocktails, like Manhattans (originally made with rye, before Prohibition all but killed it off) and other bourbon-based drinks.

Auchentoshan Classic Single Malt Scotch (not yet reviewed) - $28 - $32 a bottle, generally. This is the only single malt that's triple distilled. The results is a light, sweet spirit with honey notes and none of the divisive peat or smoke flavors that often divide whisky drinker. The resulting wide appeal makes a great choice for parties.

 A Bottle for Under the Tree

For starters, I've reviewed several scotches, bourbons, as well as a rye, a rum and an Irish whisky that I've labelled as good gift choices. They are mentioned in the list below, along with a couple of extra ones that I haven't had a chance to formally review yet.

For the Bourbon Lover

Angels Envy (not yet reviewed) - runs between $40 and $50 a bottle, and well worth it. Angels Envy is finished in used port casks. This has been done by scotch makers for years, but it's a rarity in the bourbon world. The resulting blend of flavors is excellent, and as gifts go, it's a real winner: rare, good, and not to expensive.

Elmer T. Lee Single Barrel  - runs $25 - $30 a bottle, if you can find it. A great gift for the bourbon lover, because it is quite good and honors the man credited with starting the bourbon revival. And the reasonable price doesn't hurt at all.

Woodford Reserve Distller's Select - runs around $30 a bottle, plus or minus a couple of bucks, depending on where you live. One of my top 4 bourbons of all time, and solid choice for the bourbon aficionado. Even if they have a bottle on their bar, they're going to need another one sometime soon.

For the Scotch Lover

Auchentoshan Classic Single Malt Scotch (not yet reviewed) - see above.  An excellent scotch, and one whose price has not yet gone through the roof.

Laphroaig Quarter Cask -  Moving up the price range a bit, the Quarter Cask will set you back between $50 to $60 for a 750ml bottle. As gift, you wan't to be a little more careful with this - you need to select a recipient who likes peaty scotch. However, for such a person, this bottle makes an excellent gift. Not only is the whisky excellent and relatively new to the market, it gives the enthusiast a chance to see how changing the wood/whisky ratio in the aging cask affects flavor.

The Macallan Cask Strength - Prices for this are all over the map this holiday season, ranging from $60 - $100 a bottle, and stock seems to be limited. If you can score this for $90 or so, it makes a good gift for the scotch connoisseur, assuming you love or need to impress somebody $90 worth.

Ardbeg Uigeadail - Running from $55 to $75 a bottle, and worth every penny, even at $75. Peaty scotch partially aged in used sherry barrels, the resulting flavors are surprisingly rich and well blended. For the scotch drinker with any taste for peat at all, this is a heavenly dram and thus a wonderful gift. Ever folks who find the standard Ardbeg too peaty and harsh like Uigeadail. However, if the maximum amount of peat a person can tolerate is zero, another choice, alas, might be better for them.

For the Rye Lover

WIllett Family Estate Bottled Single Barrel Rye - Around $35 a bottle, and simply the best rye whiskey I've ever tasted. Now, some folks simply don't like rye, much like some folks don't like peat. But if they like rye, and you can locate a bottle of this, it's a surefire winner of a gift.

For the Irish Whiskey Lover

The Tyrconnell - Runs around $35 a bottle. A rarity in the marketplace, this is a single malt Irish whiskey (most are blends).  That, plus the fact that it's plenty good whiskey, makes it an excellent gift for the person who fancies the lighter Irish take on whiskey.

For the Rum Lover

Zaya - About $25  - $35 a bottle, which makes it a little on the expensive side for rum. However, this is special stuff: quintuple distilled, aged for 12 years, and so sweet and smooth and rich you can drink it straight. And I've seen nice gift packs in the stores with excellent glasses for the same price as the bottle alone. You can mix it, but if you do, be aware of how sweet Zaya is on its own.

 

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.