The Irish Whiskey Society stand had plenty of interest, and a whole new group of people 'found' us for the first time, which is great. We continue to spread the word slowly and steadily. A good number of new members joined us and we were delighted with the response. Those who stopped by for a chat got a chance to try the 'Locke's' Premier Crew Single Malt 46% ncf and hear the story of the society and our activities.We are grateful to the WhiskyLive organisers for having us on board and looking forward to working with them for next years event.
Did a rushed 3 minute interview for Malt Musings but luckily I was in full flow
, I was late for my Masterclass so I had to sit at the back of the class 
mea culpa.News & Developments:
Midleton: had an impressive series of stands, underlying their commitment to the renewed interest in the Single Pot Still category. They had a steady flow of visitors seeking to get their first opportunity to try the Powers John's Lane Release & Midleton Barry Crockett Legacy. IDL have recently announced big plans for this category and we are promised a new Rebreast by year end, the future of Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey seems to be in good hands. Lovely to meet the now retired Fourth Master Brendan Monks, who for many years was Midleton's Master of Maturation (wood), it just shows that whiskey making is often times in the blood.
Cooley: supplied an 11yo Single Cask Sherry Finish Tyrconnell as the special bottling for WhiskeyLive. It was finished in Sherry Casks for 2-3 years depending on who you spoke to. As ever Cooley is at the forefront of innovation, but luckily for us enthusiasts they are no longer the only ones. Sadly I didn't get to Cooley's other stands such as Connemara & Greenore stands so missed out trying the Greenore 18 again. However did get to savour the Kilbeggan 18 at the masterclass. John Teeling himself was in sparkling form as always and one of the coopers from Kilbeggan was there to add a bit of colour.
Bushmills: I didn't get a chance to speak to the Bushmills gang, but they have been so quiet lately that there must be something cooking under the bonnet.
Tullamore Dew: having been acquired by Grants recently and having a ready made portfolio not expecting anything new here for a while yet except perhaps a distillery, well we have to encourage them don't we
. Good to hear reports the Tullamore Dew's 'new' Global Brand Ambassador John Quinn was in sparkling form. Exciting times indeed for TD.Kilbeggan: the men (and women) in white coats at Kilbeggan are experimenting away, presenting their new make Single Pot Still. This was so new it was still warm and hadn't even hit the barrels yet. So it's going to be quiet a wait for this one but this boutique new spirit is going places. Expect playful mashbills from Kilbeggan including other Single Pot Still variants as Kilbeggan reacquaints itself with the Irish traditional way. Mr Chasko himself won't forget his Oregon roots and might try some RYE mashbills in the near future. Organic grower of Irish RYE anyone! Supplies of the Kilbeggan distillery reserve are running low so still time to get one.
CelticWhiskeyShop: big presence for the first year and a cornerstone of Whisk(e) Live. They are retailing the WhiskeyLive bottling, have just released their own TYrconnell 11yo single cask and have a special release of Connemara 'Palo Cortado' Sherry Finish Cask on the way (could be corrected on which cask is due). A sleeper on the side was their Signatory Caol Ila 27yo which impressed many. They ran a guess the whiskey competition, Ally usually throws a curveball, but to my taste buds it tasted like an older Tyrconnell Single Cask (i hope, gulp).
The (Hot) Irishman: have developed a nice niche market and they were pouring their popular Irishman Cask Strength as well as the Writers Tear's amongst others. Expect a surprise release later this year from the Writers Tears brand, anyone up for Writers Tears at cask strength! Hmmm I like the sound of that.
Slane Castle: still developing their popular Slane Castle brand for the US market so it will be a while yet before any brand extension occurs.
Knappogue Castle/Castle Brands: Great to see the new Knappogue 16yo old Twin Wood which received a positive reaction, hope they continue to provide an allocation of their Limited Edition releases this side of the Atlantic going forward. They also had their Jefferson range of bourbons of which the 18yo was special.
Wild Geese: only visited briefly so didn't get an update from them, but nice to see the Travel Retail miniature packs available at the show, they proved very popular and sold out on the day.
InishTurkBeg: were there with their unique bottle and 10yo 'island' finished whiskey @ 44%, it was good to taste this again and it stands up well against other similar aged single malts. The packaging is eye catching but the price is eye watering! The goods news though is while the bottle will remain the same the packaging will become more solid by means of a clear hard perspex tube for the 2nd release which if I recall correctly will be known as 'Eternal Voyage'.
He did confirm that the season their casks for 8 months on the beaches of InishTurkBeg and use distilled rainwater from the island to bring their whiskey down to 44%.
Mitchell's: of Greenspot fame were there also, lovely to see the trio of Mitchell's Greenspot labels past and present side by side. They had a lovely display of rare whiskies which included two old Morgan's (long gone spirit merchants), a Kilmallock John Jameson and another which I can't recall.
The Irish Whiskey Collection @T2: great to see the enthusiastic gang from T2 again and they had a popular stand with a competition to win the Midleton T2 Single Cask. Lucky to taste the Greenore 19yo SC again, which is a top notch Irish Single grain whiskey which I happily shared with a couple of my whiskey buddies. The great news is they will be releasing another Midleton 19yo Single Cask in the near future, such was the popularity of the first release.
The Irish Whiskey Trail: Is their anyone who Heidi doesn't know at this stage, an Icon of Whiskey if I remember correctly
. Heidi ran her Whiskey Trail visiting various stands throughout the day. It was great to be included in the Mystery Trail, unfortunately I was off-duty at the time, so missed the groups visit. As Heidi remarked to me, it was great to see the industry under one roof, and for the first time in 50 years seeing themselves as unified category competing in the global market rather than with each other. It can only be good for Irish Whiskey in general.Good to meet Oliver Hughes from the Porterhouse, plans for their Dingle Distillery are well advanced with their Gin stills already deliverd to Dublin and Pot Stills to follow. Installation is due to begin during the late summer all going well and they could be doing trial distillations by the autumn. No word yet on the official opening date, but I'm sure we will hear about it well in advance. Hope we have a new distillery soon and will be a great addition to WhiskyLive 2012 if all the plans come to fruition.
Next year we hope that it will be bigger and better, well done to all who made it such a great success.
I will leave it to others to review our visitors from Scotland, Japan & USA, including, Benriach, Benromach, Glendronach, the Duncan Taylor series, Signatory series, Bowmore, GlenGarioch, Springbank, Longrow, Nikka, Jeffersons, Woodford Reserve to mention but a few.
I will continue to edit this with further updates and corrections as feedback is received.