tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61883002649769911172009-11-11T02:56:29.508-08:00Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261614711983117700noreply@blogger.comBlogger106125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188300264976991117.post-24444468886833125672009-10-11T13:43:00.000-07:002009-10-11T15:14:26.614-07:002009-10-11T15:14:26.614-07:00

This is probably the Irish whiskey story of 2009, at least as far as I'm concerned. The tale goes back to 1959, when the Grand Canal that crosses this country was closed to commercial traffic. That broke a longstanding link between the canal and various distilleries that received water-borne raw materials and fuel, and sent out whiskey by the same route. One such distillery was Locke's in

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105179118966987701noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188300264976991117.post-17021405790697751042009-10-09T14:49:00.000-07:002009-10-13T15:29:22.946-07:002009-10-13T15:29:22.946-07:00

Here's a nice gift for whiskey lovers - a pack of Knappogue Castle miniatures. There are three bottles in the pack, one of each of the last three vintages released, ie 1993, 1994 and 1995. Knappogue Castle is a single malt, distilled at Bushmills (prior to the 1993 release it came from Cooley). It's entirely bourbon cask-aged and is not coloured. The "vintage" for Knappogue is the year of

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105179118966987701noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188300264976991117.post-11667096446491681612009-09-28T05:01:00.000-07:002009-09-28T05:43:10.386-07:002009-09-28T05:43:10.386-07:00

I was at a wedding in County Clare over the weekend and managed to slip away for a couple of hours to check out O'Lochlainn's Whiskey Bar in Ballyvaughan. It's a beautiful, genuine, little pub with a friendly atmosphere. It's fitted out like a 1930s grocers, which is exactly what it was. The shelves are filled these days with a remarkable collection of rare Irish whiskeys, a collection begun by

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105179118966987701noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188300264976991117.post-28111381417494349542009-09-03T15:26:00.000-07:002009-09-03T15:49:31.043-07:002009-09-03T15:49:31.043-07:00

SeptemberFest comes back to Farmleigh for the second year running on September 12th and 13th. This is a showcase of independent drinks producers from the island of Ireland, with food and music to jolly it all along. Cooley will be there pouring the whiskeys but there will be grain spirits in other guises too: Bunratty Poteen and Coole Swan, for example. There will also be talks and

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105179118966987701noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188300264976991117.post-56487819409691280372009-08-19T18:05:00.000-07:002009-08-20T04:44:40.194-07:002009-08-20T04:44:40.194-07:00

Here's a new whiskey to get excited about: Tullamore Dew 10yo single malt. I haven't sampled it yet (it should be out before the end of the year) but I have high expectations. That's because I am already familiar with the various component whiskeys that will go into this and they are some of my favourites. A couple of years ago, C&C, brand owners of Tullamore Dew, approached Cooley Distillery

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105179118966987701noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188300264976991117.post-37504664054008098822009-08-10T18:15:00.000-07:002009-08-10T18:25:55.764-07:002009-08-10T18:25:55.764-07:00

A new Irish whiskey brand has appeared in the US. It was launched by Florida-based spirit importer, BerNiko, and is called Kellan (a Gaelic boy's name, apparently). It's a Cooley blend, containing 22% unpeated malt whiskey which, like all Cooley malt, is double-distilled. The rest, of course, is Cooley's rather fine grain whiskey. The malt and grain components have been matured for at least

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105179118966987701noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188300264976991117.post-88076263756035816492009-06-26T17:02:00.000-07:002009-06-26T17:20:01.234-07:002009-06-26T17:20:01.234-07:00

This is becoming a regular item... the world record for the largest Irish coffee has been broken again (previous record attempt, and the one before that). What they all have in common is that they take place outside Ireland. This time the venue was Vinexpo in Bordeaux. It was very much an Irish effort, however, because the feat was achieved by the Hot Irishman company based in Carlow, using

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105179118966987701noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188300264976991117.post-64731890456697184862009-06-24T13:18:00.000-07:002009-06-24T13:50:50.675-07:002009-06-24T13:50:50.675-07:00

Noel Sweeney, Master Blender, celebrates twenty years at Cooley Distillery this week. Since the distillery is not much older than that, and has never released a whiskey more than 16 years old, that means Noel has watched over every drop of your preferred Cooley spirit from distillation through maturation to bottling. It must be very gratifying to be able to compose some of the finest whiskeys

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105179118966987701noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188300264976991117.post-141007439427557212009-06-23T16:41:00.000-07:002009-06-24T10:10:29.778-07:002009-06-24T10:10:29.778-07:00

Slane Castle was in the news at the weekend, hosting its near-annual rock concert. That always garners a lot of publicity and this year the castle's owners have taken the opportunity to unveil a new venture into Irish whiskey. Slane Castle whiskey is a blend made by Cooley, to be sold in ten states in the eastern US (though it can also be found in the Celtic Whiskey Shop in Dublin). It's

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105179118966987701noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188300264976991117.post-5736560783961231642009-03-31T17:01:00.000-07:002009-03-31T17:02:49.254-07:002009-03-31T17:02:49.254-07:00

I've been too overwhelmed with work recently to tend to Irish Whiskey Notes. But I haven't neglected whiskey - I have been actively involved in the setting up of the Irish Whiskey Society, in particular its website. We have had three meetings to date and have sampled some very interesting whiskeys already. A formal committee has been nominated whose immediate task will be to file the legal

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105179118966987701noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188300264976991117.post-45523044080959220922009-03-06T16:33:00.000-08:002009-03-06T16:38:37.105-08:002009-03-06T16:38:37.105-08:00

The smell from the Guinness brewery that wafts along the Liffey towards Dublin's city centre is one that every Dubliner knows intimately. There was genuine concern last year while Diageo were reviewing the future of their operations at St James's Gate that this unique and pleasing aroma might be no more. Thankfully, Diageo decided to retain the plant, even before the recession put their plans to

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105179118966987701noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188300264976991117.post-41307372318331910692009-02-28T06:13:00.000-08:002009-03-06T16:46:53.106-08:002009-03-06T16:46:53.106-08:00

More on coffee and Obama A few pictures have surfaced to illustrate stories I posted previously. Obama's cask of Cooley whiskey appears in an article by Conor O'Clery in The Global Post. It's cask no. 16110, containing 200 litres at 64% ABV (it's normal to mature at a high ABV since the alcohol evaporates as time passes; it will be diluted to the desired strength at the bottling stage). And

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105179118966987701noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188300264976991117.post-49640790622628489172009-02-26T05:43:00.000-08:002009-02-26T05:50:20.452-08:002009-02-26T05:50:20.452-08:00

It's an uncomfortable fact that I don't report much on those big Irish whiskey brands, Powers and Paddy. The truth is I never hear anything about them. Their stablemate in the Pernod Ricard portfolio, Jameson, gets all the attention. While Pernod has done a wonderful job selling Jameson to the world and raising the profile of Irish whiskey at home and abroad, Powers and Paddy have languished in

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105179118966987701noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188300264976991117.post-62615109848891623752009-02-14T17:53:00.000-08:002009-02-14T18:18:36.269-08:002009-02-14T18:18:36.269-08:00

It was only three months ago I was posting a picture of an enormous glass of Irish coffee. But the Buena Vista Café's world record has already been toppled. The World's Largest Irish Coffee was made and consumed on Friday, in Cardiff, in the run up to CeltFest 2009. (Thank you to Dwyer McClorey for drawing my attention to this.) Diageo (Bushmills) sponsored the attempt, and contributed 13 litres

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105179118966987701noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188300264976991117.post-22421092572762911042009-02-04T13:22:00.000-08:002009-02-05T02:53:49.558-08:002009-02-05T02:53:49.558-08:00

The big whiskey story in 2007 was the recommencement of distillation at Kilbeggan after a pause of more than 50 years. Cooley bought the old distillery (which by this time had become a museum) in 1988 as a place to mature its own whiskey. But the intention was there from the beginning to eventually bring the distillery back to full operation. The all important stills were gone from Kilbeggan but

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105179118966987701noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188300264976991117.post-49590841814262737332009-02-01T15:21:00.000-08:002009-02-01T15:35:58.352-08:002009-02-01T15:35:58.352-08:00

There was a run on the spirit stocks of Bowes pub last Thursday evening when forty or so whiskey buffs turned up to launch the Irish Whiskey Society. Michael Foggarty, honorary Irishman (like his compatriot, John Jameson) and tireless whiskey advocate, had brought us all there. He kicked off proceedings by telling us that the whole world was watching as we finally set right the national

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105179118966987701noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188300264976991117.post-91760029246744602932009-01-31T17:50:00.000-08:002009-02-05T15:26:25.977-08:002009-02-05T15:26:25.977-08:00

The Innovator's Dilemma, a business book from a few years back, introduced the concept of a "disruptive technology". The author, Clayton Christensen, described how large, successful companies come to be toppled by small competitors. As a large company is incrementally improving its product in order to better satisfy its existing customers, a smaller company may exploit a new technology to

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105179118966987701noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188300264976991117.post-29869836681355460102009-01-23T05:17:00.000-08:002009-01-24T15:51:41.941-08:002009-01-24T15:51:41.941-08:00

The Celtic Whiskey Shop is holding a "Gold Medal Tasting" of Cooley whiskeys on Thursday, February 12 at 18:30, in the Fitzwilliam Hotel. Noel Sweeney, Cooley's Master Blender, will host the evening. The whiskeys will be those that garnered gold medals at the International Wine & Spirit Competition last year: Kilbeggan 15 Year Old Blended Irish Whiskey Connemara Peated Single Malt Connemara 12

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105179118966987701noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188300264976991117.post-15597060353647553772009-01-21T17:36:00.000-08:002009-01-21T17:45:34.587-08:002009-01-21T17:45:34.587-08:00

Martin Duffy, Master of Whiskey and a Spirit Ambassador at Diageo, will present a series of whiskey tastings at the First Floor Bar in Harvey Nichols, Dundrum. The two hour tastings will run on Tuesday nights and include welcome drinks, canapés and whiskey tasting. The cost is €25.00 per person per class or €80.00 for all four classes. To book, contact First Floor Restaurant on (01) 291 0488.

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105179118966987701noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188300264976991117.post-11839914286624564842009-01-20T09:33:00.000-08:002009-01-20T10:05:40.943-08:002009-01-20T10:05:40.943-08:00

I have just watched President Obama's inaugural address. It is America's day but this country needed to hear those words just as much. We do not have a leader in Ireland who can articulate the values we believe in, let alone steer the country according to them. We are all celebrating a new era. Cooley Distillery has made sure that the Democratic Party's festivities tonight are well supplied with

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105179118966987701noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188300264976991117.post-14961326157992083622009-01-18T12:18:00.000-08:002009-01-18T12:33:54.286-08:002009-01-18T12:33:54.286-08:00

This is the first film review on this website, and probably the last until another screenwriter manages to spin a story around Irish whiskey. Released in 1977, Poitín tells the story of a West of Ireland distiller of illicit poteen (as it's usually spelled in English), his local "distributors" and the two policemen charged with stopping him. The rocky landscape of Connemara doesn't support much

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105179118966987701noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188300264976991117.post-9389754871382178682009-01-07T16:48:00.000-08:002009-01-13T06:12:17.157-08:002009-01-13T06:12:17.157-08:00

The inaugural meeting of the Irish Whiskey Society will take place upstairs in Bowes pub, Fleet Street, on Thursday, Jan 29th at 7pm. Michael says he'll be hanging about downstairs from about 6pm, if there are any particularly thirsty attendees. I'll be there and you can expect a report on proceedings in this space.

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105179118966987701noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188300264976991117.post-65919832253016876582008-12-21T02:50:00.000-08:002008-12-21T03:03:54.557-08:002008-12-21T03:03:54.557-08:00

One essential part of the whiskey infrastructure we have been missing in Ireland to date is a Whiskey Club. For those of us with modest means a club is the best way of sampling a wide range of fine whiskeys as well as exchanging knowledge with fellow enthusiasts. Michael Foggarty, of the Celtic Whiskey Shop, hopes to fill this gap. He proposes a meeting in Bowes pub on Fleet Street (one of my

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105179118966987701noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188300264976991117.post-90820133772690013432008-12-20T17:49:00.000-08:002008-12-20T17:54:08.790-08:002008-12-20T17:54:08.790-08:00

The Irish Times magazine had a feature on recommended Irish whiskeys today. It's solid advice, and I'm especially pleased to see the Tyrconnell 10yo port finish highlighted. You saw it here first :-) The photo chosen to accompany the piece (only in the printed edition, not online) shows Bernard Walsh of The Hot Irishman company beside a few of his products. Among those is the elusive The

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105179118966987701noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188300264976991117.post-228649943288685402008-12-14T07:39:00.000-08:002008-12-14T07:43:35.441-08:002008-12-14T07:43:35.441-08:00

The Wine Centre in Kilkenny will pit the Celtic nations against one another on Saturday, Dec 20th. Three single malts will be sampled: Bushmills 10yo representing Ireland, Bruichladdich 12yo for Scotland, and Penderyn Single Malt from Wales. Penderyn is the only distillery in Wales and first fired up its still in 2000, so the whiskey is still a little young. Nevertheless it has been getting good

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105179118966987701noreply@blogger.com4