Introduce Yourself

[T47]

It is a nicely stocked cabinet! My wife just shakes her head but cant say too much since it was her father who started me down the path. I will have to pick up some bottles for some St. Pats tasting. The Red Breast 15 is next on my list; I have never seen the Powers Johns Lane. Our liquor sales used to be State run, but this year it became privatized. Prices shot up due to punitive taxation by the State, and I have found selection to be no better at this point. I hope that changes and things open up a bit.
I have had several of the Aberlour's but A'bunadh is my favorite, and I dont think anyone I have steered that way has been disapointed. I had no experience with Peat, and picked up a bottle of McCarthys Oregon Whiskey, which I understand is made to be like an Islay type Scotch and very heavily peated... A little brash of an introduction for me. I went to a Whiskey tasting at a nearby restaurant and the presenter had some peat that he lit and let smoke... then we tried some lightly peated Scotch and I could appreciate it a bit more. My Whiskey exploration has a long way to go and I am enjoying it one sip at a time!
I will keep my eye out for that Powers as well, thanks for the suggestion.

[Pudge72]

Great story Dave, and welcome aboard!

[Alicja]

Hello, my name is Alicja, Im 33 years old. I live in Galway. I am beginner with whiskies, but I am working very hard
My collection isnt very big:
- 15 YO Dalwhinnie
- Jameson 12 YO
- Tullamore DEW SM
- Black Bush
- Speyburn
- Glenfiddich 12 YO
- Grants
- Powers SPS
-Greenore 8 YO
- John Locke 8YO
- Glenlivet 12YO
- Glenmorangie 10 YO.
I was recently in re-opened Tullamore Dew distillery and a pub and I tried some more: Writers Tears, Powers family
My English isnt as good as I want it to be, but Im doing my best with learning. I hope I will get some knowledge about whiskies and improve my English here. Thanks

[Good Whiskey Hunting]

Welcome Alicja,
That a nice start to your collection. A nice variety for drinking too

I hope you enjoy the forum. I've learned so much in the past few years. Everyone here is very helpful.

We look forward to your input.

[DavidH]

Hello Alicja! It's nice to hear another voice from the west of the country. I hope some day we will bring the whiskey society to Galway.

[Nomad11]

Hello all. I am a 42 year old Pub owner in Canada. The Toad in the Hole Pub.I've been here 8 years but the pub has been here for 22. I recently expanded, built another bar and we call it The Whiskey Bar.

We have been open 8 months and currently offer over 160 Canadian, Irish, American and Scotish Whiskies.

Personally, I don't like Scotch, I prefer Canadian, Irish and American and in that order.
My brother is a bartender and with my other bartender, are growing a vast knowledge in the product we serve and while I don't bartend anymore, I have taken it upon myself to become the "go to" guy when it pertains to Irish and Canadian Whiskies.
It has been a lot of fun and I have a long way to go.

My bartender laughs at me because he say I am secretly doing some sneaky learning and he's right. This guy is an encyclopedia when it comes to all of my whiskey, especially scoth and I want to blow him away with the Irish knowledge.

I have browsed a bit of this forum and will continue to do so, but can anyone tell me if there is the best or top 3 books available on the subject?

Thanks,
Nomad

[Good Whiskey Hunting]

Welcome Nomad.
Best wishes with your venture.

I couldn't say which books are best because they are really the authors opinions. I know Amazon has a good selection of books on the subject.
I recently read Ian Buxton "101 whiskeys to try before you die". I wouldn't agree with his selection but it makes you think about your own selection.

[DavidH]

Hi Nomad!

I thought Michael Jackson's "Whiskey - Definitive World Guide" was quite good but all the books that cover Irish whiskey are quite out of date now. So much has happened in the last few years.

The best I can suggest is just to keep an eye on what happens from here (on this forum, or if there was a handy blog, say, that covered such things ) and you'll get the picture. The industry is small enough that it doesn't take too long to get a handle on it.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Hi Nomad,

Books are really subjective and as David above said anything written to date is woefully out of date but a couple to get you grounded I think would be a worth while read ...

Classic Irish Whiskey : Jim Murray or Jim Murray's Irish Whiskey Almanac : Jim Murray (Both very similar so go for which ever it the longest as that will have slightly more information.

The Whiskeys of Ireland : Peter Mulryan is a very easy to read book and is a great one stop introduction to Irish whiskey.

Both cover the old faithful s but as David has said the Irish Whiskey landscape has changed immensely in the last 3 years.

So once upto date with those you can then update yourself by going through forums like our own and reviews etc from John Hansel and the multitude of other sources.

We have a list of books here on Irish whiskey in the main just as a resource list.
http://www.irishwhiskeysociety.com/refe ... bliography

Any questions feel free to ask and I'm sure someone will try and put you straight

Enjoy the learning curve

[Joel1802]

Welcome Nomad, what city is your pub in?

[Pudge72]

Welcome Nomad, what city is your pub in?

Google searching suggests Winnipeg...unfortunately, I am not there.

[cianc1]

Hi I'm Cian and I work in a bar in Dublin, I'm an avid fan of all spirits, and have built up a large collection, but i've a soft spot for whiskey, so I wanted to join here to learn as much as possible and feed my thirst for whiskey. I have a few bottles, but unfortunately some get drunk faster than others.
At the moment I have:
Black Bush
Bushmills 400th anniversary edition
Green spot (old and new bottlings)
Yellow Spot
Powers John's Lane
Connemara Turf Mor
Connemara Cask Strength
Tyrconnell 10yr Port & Maderia
Nikka All Malt Black
Makers Mark
Makers 46
Jack Daniels Single Barrel
Seagrams rye
Balblair 12yr
Johnnie Walker, Black, Gold, Green and Blue
Benriach 16yr Sauternes Cask
Laphroaig 10yr
Laphroaig Quarter Cask
Laphroaig Feis Ile Cairdeas 2008
And one bottle of scotch I blended myself
but that's just my whiskey
Personally i'm a big fan of the phenol, smoke of Islay, but i'm also partial to the odd pot still or sherry bomb.
I'm looking forward to a few tastings

[Good Whiskey Hunting]

Welcome Cian,

The society have tastings every month. Check out the events section.

Good variety in your collection and taste by the looks of those bottles. I'm fond of other spirits too, especially Rums and Brandy.

Sláinte
Willie

[MyIrishHome]

Hello all. I am a 42 year old Pub owner in Canada. The Toad in the Hole Pub.

Do you play Toad in the Hole? Next week we are having a pubtheme party at my house. We are going to play Toad in the Hole, Shove ha'penny, Shut the Box and play Dart while watching the replay of All-Ireland Hurling game between the Cats ant the tribesmen. Back to Toad in the Hole for the one who don't know the game
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toad_in_th ... %28game%29
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcK6_VLM8z0
The final aim is ofcourse to send a Swedish team to Lewes Town Hall to become champs

[Tennessee Dave]

New member here from Eastern Tennessee, USA. Happy St. Patrick's day to all. Enjoying some Redbreast 12 to honor the day. I do believe it is my favorite Irish whiskey. Glad to be here and looking forward to learning and finding some more great whiskeys.

[Good Whiskey Hunting]

Welcome Dave,
I hope your enjoying St. Patrick's and the Redbreast. I'm looking forward to one myself, when I'm finished work.
Sláinte
Willie

[DavidH]

Another Dave! Can we get our own forum, mods?

Welcome, Tennessee Dave

[Pudge72]

Welcome aboard, Cian and Dave!

[Zeke]

Howdy!

My name is Zeke, I'm in Montreal, where we have a woeful selection of Irish Whiskey. None the less because of the calendar, I am giving a presentation/tasting on Irish Whiskey next week. In doing the research for the presentation I came across the IWS and thought some of my more technical questions could be answered (and my fingers are crossed I'm looking forward to going through the various posts and coming up with more questions.

[TallyB]

Welcome Zeke, I'm sure all your questions can be answered here.
What is your selection like in Montreal?

[Good Whiskey Hunting]

Welcome Zeke,
I also read your post on your tasting. Fair play and I hope all goes well.

I certain there'll be a Canadian branch of the society soon.

[nine10out]

Hello to all. I am a 62 year old semi retired project manager, currently living in Robin Hood country near Nottingham. Distilled and matured in Scotland near Glasgow for 24 years before going off to the wide world. My first taste of whisky was of course scotch (most likely Bells), at 14 years old on a youth club outing. Didin't end well for a few of us...

Father had a tradition of pouring a glass for all the males in the house before setting off to weddings, funerals and christenings, and any other event worthy of note. I was eventually allowed into that exclusive circle and had my first glass in that circumstance at 16 years old before setting of to my older Sister's wedding. Probably around 9am, since we had to get up to Perthshire before 11.30am. I have of course maintained that tradition and have passed it on to my own son.

In my time I have sampled all sorts of whiskies, bourbons, sour mash, rye as well as other spirits from and in many places across the world. Can't say I have a real favourite whisky since there are so many variations and in my case it tends to go with the mood of the moment, or the occasion.

As a scot, committed to supporting the cause of scotch, I have absolutely no hesitation in offering equal support to the Irish Whiskey. Having previously had only the more usual and readily available Jamesons, Black Bush etc, I was introduced to the Midleton by my dear Brother In Law Neil, (sadly departed, RIP) who brought a bottle of the 1992 home from a trip to Ireland. What a revelation that was on my first taste, and I remain a staunch and devoted fan. Even now as I write, I have the empty bottle and wooden case in front of me, on my desk, recently returned to me for safekeeping from my Son who feared for its' safety when he moved to London. It has become something of a family treasure with associated stories of Neil's legendary and very eventful trip to Ireland.

So there we are. A great fan of both the Scotch and Irish whiskies, and a grudging acceptance that other countries can make a passable attempt at imitation.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Great story and thanks for sharing ... it's amazing how whisk(e)y can map parts of our lives. Sorry to hear about your brother in law. There are quite a few of us who have a grá for scotch too so feel free to talk about Scotch too .. It's all good

[Good Whiskey Hunting]

Welcome on board. I enjoy them all too.

That a great family tradition your father started.

[TallyB]

Nine10out wrote


A great fan of both the Scotch and Irish whiskies, and a grudging acceptance that other countries can make a passable attempt at imitation.


Here here.