Battle of the blends

[William J]

I'm wondering if anyone can shed some light on the results of the Society's 2011 tasting called Battle of the Blends (http://www.irishwhiskeysociety.com/even ... 2011-09-29). The favoured blends from the night are rather perplexing to me:

1. Inishowen (Cooley Distillery)
2. Tullamore Dew (William Grant / Midleton Distillery)
3. Bushmills Original (Bushmills Distillery)
4. Avoca 8yo (Aldi / Cooley Distillery)

Although I've only tasted about half of the blends that were offered that night, the results seem to be at odds with my own experience. In particular, I'm surprised that Powers, Crested Ten and Jameson lost out to Tullamore Dew (I've had all four and I'd rate Tullamore last -- even though they're all good

Perhaps it's time I give Bushmills original a chance. And since seeing these results a few months ago I've been curious about Inishowen even though it's one of the cheapest Irish whiskeys available here (I'm in NZ). I've been a bit dismissive of it with its low price and peaty character.

Can anyone who was there that night reflect on the tasting? Do you think anything has changed with those blends since that time, and would another battle yield different results?

Cheers

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

It was in no way scientific, I was not at it though but would not read too much into the results..

Basically Like was matched up with like to get the grouping but if it was done properly maybe 2 blends out of one of the groups could have come in the top 4 theoretically. However with so many blends it would be hard to get every one to taste everything, so they were grouped and the winner of each table was then put into an over all tasting. So the final tasting was Inishowen (Cooley Distillery), Tullamore Dew (William Grant / Midleton Distillery), Bushmills Original (Bushmills Distillery), Avoca 8yo (Aldi / Cooley Distillery) which would not be considered the best Ireland has to offer in the blends. However in saying that people tend to go for the sweeter versions in blends than ones with any sharp edges. So maybe it was a useful exercise. Remember it was a totally blind tasting so no one had any preconceptions to pull from.

It also could easily have as much to do with the make up of a table and those peoples tastes as much as to do with the type of whiskeys on offer. Maybe there was a table of Nuns for Table B

Tullamore Dew (William Grant / Midleton Distillery)
Crested Ten (Midleton Distillery)
Powers (Midleton Distillery)
Jameson (Midleton Distillery)

However I'm not overly surprised either as these were all freshly opened bottles and this does often have a big part to play sometimes. Tullamore can be very interesting when opened first with a lovely sweetness cut by a spice bite but to me seems to become very mundane after it's opened a while. Jameson I find the opposite way finding it very metallic when opened first before it settles down after being opened a while. Crested Ten is a far superior blend than Jameson so maybe the Tullamore just shaded it. It probably should have went to a round of the top 2 from each table but I think people could have been half shot by the time they got through all samples again which is another issue you have to take into account when doing tastings. We do have to be some what responsible

Another thing to remember is that Tullamore is the second biggest brand after Jameson so it must appeal to some ...

This is possibly something that should be done over 2 nights and 8 tables. The first 4 tables would have the grouped blends while the other 4 tables would have random samples (i.e. Not all potstill based like Table B but randomly picked) However such an exercise is not feasible for us really.

Blind tastings are very important to get people to over come their preconceptions which I have to admit I have many when I see a bottle.

Bushmills White has improved to me while Blackbush and gone down in my estimation with what seems of me an obvious lessening of the sherry content. But my preconceptions would still make me pick the Blackbush over the White label . I think we should have another major blind tasting


Sorry for going on a bit

[Distiller]

I think we should have another major blind tasting

What if we just drink until we are blind?

[Joel1802]

I think we should have another major blind tasting

What if we just drink until we are blind?

As a sailor I'm in. Proffesional pride.

[DavidH]

I think Inishowen came out well both because it's uncommon and interesting even to experienced whiskey drinkers, and because a bit of peat can help overcome either a blandness or spiritiness in a young whiskey. We really weren't tasting that one blind either because how many cheap, peated Irish blends are there?

[AlecM]

I must try a blind tasting of Bushmills Original. I love Bushmills distillery, quite possibly my favourite distillery, but I have to say Bushmills Original I find totally unpalatable. Am amazed it scored so well in a blind tasting. Hence my desire to taste it blind. Was Bushmills 1608 400th anniversary included? That is a lovely drink, crystal malt is really tasty.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

I must try a blind tasting of Bushmills Original. I love Bushmills distillery, quite possibly my favourite distillery, but I have to say Bushmills Original I find totally unpalatable. Am amazed it scored so well in a blind tasting. Hence my desire to taste it blind. Was Bushmills 1608 400th anniversary included? That is a lovely drink, crystal malt is really tasty.

No the 400 was omitted as the premise of the tasting was sub €30

[William J]

Thanks for the clarification. I can see how inishowen might stand out against all the rest due to its unique makeup. Apparently Mr Murray has given it top marks so perhaps it really is worth buying a bottle to see for myself. I might be a bit sensitive but I can taste peat in Cooley's Tyrconnel and Lockes 8 yo (am I the only one?), and the miniature Connemara I have just isn't something I'd want a whole bottle of, so if inishowen is like the Connemara i'll probably give it a miss.

Very interesting what was said about the bottles all being freshly opened. I find this plays a huge role, and i definitely taste the metallic element to Jameson when newly opened. I've only had one bottle of Tullamore though and have forgotten what it tasted like at first. I find the whiskey in a newly opened bottle needs breathing time in the glass while bottles that are half full have had their breathing time. And bottles that are nearly empty are usually starting to get stale. But maybe I have too many bottles open, or I drink too slow (though my wife would probably argue that's impossible).

And I also agree about your comments regarding Black Bush. I've only recently discovered whiskey (thought it all tasted like scotch until I happened to try Jameson, which immediately appealed) and I've never tasted Black Bush back in the day, but the tasting notes from back then suggest a higher quality product than what is currently being offered.

It does make it difficult to compare apples with apples when there are so many subtle differences creeping into whiskeys of the same name (both intentional changes by the distillers/blenders and unintentional changes due to the variabilities in the ingredients and resulting whiskey). I managed to find an old label bottle of Kilbeggan here --benefit of living at the edge of the world--and there does seem to be quite a difference between the old and new label blend. Too bad the the later is inferior. When some Irish blends appear to be improving (like Jameson) it's a shame to take a step backward, but I understand this was done because of limited stock?

Thanks for the comments, all.

Cheers

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Just to clarify further the Locke's 8yo is supposed to have a touch of peat, but Tyrconnell no. So possibly you got a cross contaminated bottling as I've never noticed it in Tyrconnell before but I have not tasted NAS Tyrconnell in a long while as I tend to try as many as the single casks as I can.

Can't say I'm a fan of Kilbeggan either.

I must try and track down an Inishowen too but if I remember correctly it is a fairly lightly peated blend' certainly not as good as the Locke's 8yo though which I have soft spot for.

[William J]

Yes, of course, Locke's 8yo does indicate that it uses both peated and non-peated malts. The bottle of Tyrconnel I have tastes like a younger and less refined version of Locke's, including a slight peatiness. I'm a fan of the Locke's but I wondered if something wasn't strange about the Tyrconnel I have -- maybe it's a one-off contamination. We've only just started seeing the Tyrconnel finished whiskey on the shelves here, so single cask offerings are probably out of the question.

The old label Kilbeggan tastes like the malt in Tyrconnel with grain added, though apparently it's less grain than in the new bottling. I also taste a hint of peat in the Kilbeggan.

If the Inishowen is along the lines of Locke's in terms of peat levels than I would be inclined to buy a bottle. Locke's is all malt, however, whereas Inishowen is a blend.

Is there anyone who has tasted these and can confirm if Inishowen is worth a look?

Keeping with the topic of this thread, what are your favourite cheap blends? I've had various bottles battling it out on my shelf here at home although I've not tried everything that's available (Inishowen and Bushmills original, to name a few). Thankfully, I did manage to find a bottle of Crested Ten and that's probably my favourite, which I liked even more than 12 yo Jameson. Powers and Paddy are quite fine too, and hard to beat for their 'low' price ($55 nzd). And I'll always be a bit partial to regular old Jameson since that's what got me started on whiskey in the first place.

Cheers