Irish Whiskey Tasting (March 21st, 2025)
This is our 4th Irish Whiskey Tasting. I enjoy Irish Whiskey, much more than Scotch. The bottles in question were;
| TT Label | Description | Proof | Rating | Price (CAD$) |
| A | Yellow Spot | 92 | 7.8 | $150/$110 (USD) |
| B | Powers Irish Rye | 86.4 | 7.5 | $50/$?? (USD) |
| C | Midleton Very Rare, Barry Crockett Legacy | 92 | 7.5 | $450/$325(USD) |
| D | Red Spot | 92 | 7.7 | $200/$240 (USD) |
| E | Bushmills 21 yr | 80 | 7.5 | $220/$400(USD) |
| F | Waterford, Hook Head, 1.1 | 100 | 6.2 | $110/$??(USD) |
| G | Blue Spot | 117.4 | 7.5 | $200/$200(USD) |
| H | Powers Gold Label | 86.4 | 8.3 | $45/$23-40(USD) |
| I | Carolans, Irish Cream | 34 | 9.2 | $30/$18(USD) |
We had 22 people on Zoom, but a few voted as a group (Ann/Daniel, Kellan and Ben). So we still had 20 votes. Frank and Vince couldn’t make it, last minute issues.
This was our 4th Irish Whiskey tasting, and done in honour of, and close to St. Patrick’s Day. It was our 2nd ‘sold out’ tasting, with 25 racks sold. In honour of the ‘sold out’ tasting, and the fact that I’m not doing this for the $$, I added ‘Midleton Very Rare, Barry Crockett Legacy’, to the tasting, this is a 300 euro bottle (approx. $325 USD/$450 CAD). It was “C”, and it didn’t win. Kudos to Ann/Daniel, David W, and Jessica C for rating it their highest rating. As a group we seem to like Irish Whiskey, since most bottles rated at least 7.5, with the exception of Waterford. Waterford is now out of business as a distillery, this does not shock me.
We had a couple “allocated” Irish Whiskeys in the mix, Blue Spot and Red Spot, which I was happy to offer up, for everyone to try them. I really liked Blue Spot, but I like high proof. They only did ‘ok’ in the ratings. I didn’t realize that, besides Waterford, and the Bushmills, the rest of the tasting (6 bottles) were all from the Midleton Distillery, just under different product names.
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.
I heard there were a few Irish Whiskey converts, from Scotch, after this tasting…I was happy to hear that.
I am starting to worry about the amount of “H” and “G” bottles that are winning in the tasting. I’m starting to think everyone is just so hammered by that time, that they all taste good. If anyone has suggestions for improving this situation, let me know. It’s a relatively new phenomenon.
I don’t agree with “H” winning this one, it is very odd…it wasn’t that good.
The Winners!
“H” won, Powers Gold Label, the cheapest bottle in the tasting, 2nd was Yellow Spot, and a close 3rd was Red Spot, and everyone else was really close behind.
1st Place (8.3) $45/$23
2nd Place (7.8) $150/$110
3rd Place (7.7) $200/$240
The next Tasting will be Canadian Whisky, Macaloney’s, from BC, “the island distillery” on May 2nd.
The Survey Results
| A-Yellow | B-Pwr Rye | C-Very Rare | D-Red | E-Bush | F-Water | G-Blue | H-Pwr Gold | I-cream | |
| Jessica C | 7 | 7 | 9 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 10 |
| David J | 7 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 8 | |
| Mike M | 8 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 8 | 3 | 8 | 10 | 10 |
| Ron K | 9 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 9 |
| Marco | 10 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| Kellan R | 5 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 8 |
| David W | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 8 |
| Ken | 9 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 9 |
| Stephane M | 6 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 10 |
| Mary W | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 5 | 9 | 7 | |
| Ann/Daniel | 8 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 9 |
| John | 9 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 9 |
| Roxwel | 7 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 10 |
| Kevin H | 7 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 9 |
| Emilio | 8 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 9 |
| Allison C | 6 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 10 |
| Collin M | 7 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 10 |
| Chris Ba | 8 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 10 |
| Stephane J | 9 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 8 | |
| Brandon | 9 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 5 | 8 |
| Total | 155 | 150 | 149 | 153 | 149 | 123 | 149 | 166 | 157 |
| Avg | 7.75 | 7.5 | 7.45 | 7.65 | 7.45 | 6.15 | 7.45 | 8.3 | 9.2 |
){kind=link}