Irish Whiskey (3rd one, Tastings #35)

Irish Whiskey Tasting (March 21st, 2024)

This is our 3rd Irish Whiskey Tasting. I enjoy Irish Whiskey, much more than Scotch.  The bottles in question were;

This was our 3rd Irish Whiskey tasting, and done in honour of, and close to St. Patrick’s Day.  I was worried I wouldn’t be able to find enough Irish Whiskey in Canada, to do a 3rd tasting, but since budget is less limited than in the past, we were able to do it, without much issue.

Irish Whiskey seems to be the same, or a little more expensive in the US, at least at the higher category of bottles.  This is especially true with the Bushmills line.  Although I did see some 27/28 yr old Bushmills bottles in the US, for $400 USD, which seems like a good deal.

We had 20 people on Zoom, but many voted as a group (Paul and Jackie, Rose and her room mate, Brandon, John, and Randall, Kimberly and Ghislain).  So we only ended up with 12 votes/bottle.  We have to figure out a better way to do this, for next time, I’m losing too many votes.

I’d have to say this one was one of the ‘most animated’ tastings, in recent memory.  From Tube E or F on, not only did I not need to talk, it was hard to be heard.  A few were talking over one another etc..but everyone was friendly, it was all good, part of the fun!!  That’s why Zoom has ‘mute’ for the organizer!

It was hard to give the bottles away, our custom at the end of the tasting, there was so much talking..lol.

I was happy with the results of this one, although as stated above, I just think more votes makes the differences more decisive.  One of my favorite brands won. Our only non-single malt, did not fare well, this didn’t shock me, when tasting it beside the others, in the bottle order tasting, i do a week before the actual tasting.

We had 3 new participants on the call, really 4, but Kimberly/Ghislain voted as one.  All seemed to have a good time, which was great to see.

In terms of guessing the bottles, based on the tasting notes, JP got 2 correct, no one else placed.

The Winners!

The winner was Bushmills 21 yr, with 7.8.  Next up was a tie for 2nd, both with 7.6, Bushmills 16 yr, and RedBreast Lustau Edition.  I’m not sure, and I doubt, if 7.6 vs 7.8 is a statistically significant difference, especially since the raw vote is 93 to 91..we only had 12 votes, so the stats are kinda out the window, but its all good.

Bushmills did well, placing 1st and 2nd, I personally like the 16 yr better, but that wasn’t the groups choice.  The 21 yr is Madeira cask finished, whereas the 16 yr is bourbon and sherry cask finished.  I don’t like wine, so that makes sense.

1st Place (7.8) $220/$300

2nd Place (7.6) $130/$160

2nd Place (7.6) $115/$90

The next Tasting will be Canadian Whisky, on April 25th.

The Survey Results