Ireland’s whiskey is different from its fellow Celtic neighbor Scotland in several important ways. Both have a foundation in barley, but while most Scottish distilleries use peat to dry their barley malt, today’s Irish distilleries (with one exception, about which more later) use coal and other neutral heat sources. Hence Irish whiskey lacks the peaty quality that influences, whether subtly or overwhelmingly, most all single malt Scotch. And there’s another difference: malt. In Scotland, the classic whisky is made only in a pot still and only from malted barley, and they call it “single malt Scotch.” In Ireland, the essential and traditional whiskey is made with both malted and unmalted barley. It is this unmalted barley that contributes the crisp, almost brittle character of classic Irish whiskey. Really, it is a character unique to Ireland and unmatched in the world of whiskey. And this most classic of Irish whiskeys is called “pure pot still.” It indicates not only the vessel of distillation, a pot still, but the recipe of grains as well, malted and unmalted barley. The other significant tweak to Irish whiskey is triple distillation, which creates a lighter whiskey than the Scottish double distillation. You won’t find big, fat, oily-textured Scottish Highland-style whiskies in Ireland, but you will find toothsome whiskeys variously described as “brittle,” “crisp, or “tangy.”
Pure Pot Still: The Real McCoy
And so here is our first sample—and if you need only one example of Irish whiskey in your closet, make it this one—of Irish whiskey. There is one regularly available pure pot still Irish whiskey on the American market. Long years went by while Redbreast 12 Year Old was unavailable here, a cult whiskey only whispered of by devotees who travel to Eire. Happily, since about 2004 it is shipped to America, and today Redbreast is all you absolutely must know about Irish whiskey. Redbreast epitomizes the light yet deep and riveting, crackling crisp flavors found in classic Irish whiskey. It is a world classic, and a must-have whiskey; outside of a handful of extra-rare or well-preserved aged whiskeys this is the best Ireland has to offer.
The next typical category of Irish whiskey would be blended whiskey, comprised of Irish pure pot still, blended with grain whiskey (and, possibly, some single malt). Jameson is the leading example here, at least in American sales—and I must say, that while Jameson is on every bar back, and probably very common and even to some drinkers a bit boring—it has in recent years really improved in quality. Jameson is probably one of the top 25 blended whiskeys in the world, really choice stuff, skillfully balanced among its several components. Whiskey drinkers who overlook this well-known name do so at their peril. That said, the true star among Irish blended whiskeys is rather less well known in America—yet Powers is the number one seller in its homeland. The Powers label rather anachronistically states “a whiskey with distinctive pot still character,” and man, do they hit the nail on the head with that. Powers is terrific! All vibrant and riveting, zesty and not-malty, full of electrifying pure pot still hooch to the tune of some 70% of the blend (and about 60% of that unmalted). You’ll break a tooth on the hard and crispy Powers, and smile a toothless grin in the end to boot. It is simply one of the greatest values in all the world of whiskey. I love how Pernod Ricard dogs the price down in America to compete with the better-known Jameson and Bushmills. It is simply one of the top five whiskey values in the world.
Finally, there is Irish single malt, which does not have a long tradition in Ireland and follows very much in the footsteps of the Scottish tradition. Nonetheless, Irish malts are deliciously different from single malt Scotch. With no peat to get in the way, the malt comes purely through on the palate. Try Bushmills 10 Year or Knappogue Castle for a nice, thirst-quenching example of Irish single malt. Then put on your helmet for two more samples from one of the wee-est distilleries in the world: Cooley.
Cooley: Irish Independence
It’s hard to believe that all this Irish whiskey comes out of only three distilleries. That’s right—just three of them on the whole island. Midleton near Cork in the south, and Bushmills in far Northern Ireland, are both owned by multinational conglomerates. Then there is Cooley, the fiercely independent distillery on the east coast close to the border with the North. Cooley opened in 1989 and staved off a takeover by Irish Distillers (the entity which until 2006 owned both Midleton and Bushmills) in the 1990s. Cooley uses double distillation, so their whiskeys present a bit more weight than the others. Furthermore, their independence affords them the luxury of a bit of experimentation. Cooley makes many styles of whiskey, including Kilbeggan blended and Tyrconnell single malt (plus Greenore, a uniquely delicate Irish single grain whiskey). Two of my favorites from Cooley include the legendary Connemara, and the nifty Michael Collins. Connemara is the only peated Irish whiskey. It manages to combine pungent Islay-style peat with a properly crisp Irish texture, making for a unique hybrid. If you like smoky Scotch, you’ll love Connemara. For the Michael Collins whiskey, Cooley vats just a bit of their smoky whiskey together with their twice-distilled malt. Here the peat is subtly and complexly worked into the rest of the malty palate, a terrific example of how a vatted malt whiskey can be much more than the sum of its parts. Whiskey enthusiasts should count Cooley as one of the more exciting developments in recent years, for bringing a fresh and independent approach to the nation that arguably invented whiskey (and, it should be pointed out, a nation that has had a lot to say about independence as well).
