Last night's meeting (Nov 25th)

[Peter White]

Hey guys,

Just a quick word to say its been a great first year and the committee did a great job over all, especially with last nights meeting.It was great to finally taste some premium whiskies and I think that the night was a great success!

Thanks

me!

[jcskinner]

On, unusually, a Wednesday night, the society gathered this week for the final tasting of the year.
However, the President's selection tasting was preceded by the society's first ever annual general meeting, at which it was agreed that the inaugural committee would continue for the following year.
The AGM also reviewed the achievements of the year to date. However, despite the many highs of this first year of the society, few could have matched the exceptional President's selection tasting that was to follow the AGM.
Vice-President Leo Phelan followed President Gary Mongey's AGM address by introducing the society members and guests present to three of the finest Irish whiskeys currently on the market. There then followed three more premium Irish whiskeys which were left unidentified.
First up was the 2008 vintage bottling of Midleton Very Rare, by Irish distillers. Leo excellently informed the society about the brand's history and formulation.
The Bushmills 21 year old single malt was the second dram of the all-Irish evening. This 2004 bottling of Bushmills' top of the range malt was to prove the most popular whiskey of the evening.
The first of Cooley's offerings was the 15 year old single cask Tyrconnell which was bottled for the Celtic Whiskey Shop in Dublin.
The first of our mystery drams turned out to be from cask 142 of the Bushmills Millennium Malt series from back in 2000. This series permitted individuals and syndicates to purchase 24 year old Bushmills single casks directly from the distillery, and resulted in 365 single casks being released.
Only eight of those present correctly identified this whiskey.
Member Liam Murray, from the Wine Centre in Kilkenny, had kindly offered a sample of Dutch single malt whisky to whoever was able to identify the most of the mystery drams, so there was some interest in guessing their provenance.
The fifth whiskey was an independent bottling, the Irishman single cask. This single cask version of the popular and unique pure potstill and single malt blend was not identified by many of those present, but despite its relative youth compared with the other whiskeys tasted, it had a notable number of fans.
The final mystery dram was so freshly bottled that it still lacked a label. In only its first year, the Irish Whiskey Society has been privileged to witness a number of firsts. Noel Sweeney and Cooley kindly gave us the world's first public tasting of the new Connemara earlier this year, for which we truly thank him.
And once again, the Celtic Whiskey Shop and Cooley did the Society proud by rushing us a bottle of the Tyrconnell 17 year old single cask, the oldest official Cooley bottling yet.
In the end, as is now traditional, the Society voted on their favourites. Tyrconnell 15 year old came in the rear alongside Midleton Very Rare 2008. Next was the Bushmills Millennium Malt with four votes, and in third place was The Irishman Single Cask with five votes.
In silver medal position was the yet-to-be-released Tyrconnell 17 year old single cask with eleven votes, but the winner on the night was the Bushmills 21 year old single malt, with thirteen votes.
Only one member managed to guess all three of the mystery drams, thereby claiming the Dutch whisky. That was Liam Smith, whose superb palate will now be tested by the best whisky Holland can produce.
Members are reminded that there will be no meeting in December, and that the Society's next tasting will be in January 2010. Members were also told that they can receive a 20 euro discount on the Celtic Whiskey Shop's single cask 14 year old pure pot still bottling from Midleton on production of their Society membership card.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

here .. here ... I second the praises for the Committee and a successful first yer of the society. Hopefully onwards and upwards from here.

Excellent review JC and thanks for posting. It's a pity I missed out but with a knackered nose I thought best not to attend. Floods would not have helped my case any for attending either.

[DavidH]

I have begun posting photos from the last tasting on our new Flickr account.

There is a photo of each bottle to begin with.

[Luke Gough]

A Great Meeting!

If i didn't say it to ye on the night, a Very Merry Christmas to ye all and a Happy New Year!

[John]

Thanks for the notes JC. And I would also like to echo the posts above and thank the committee for the fantastic work put in to date, the night ran very well, excellent whiskeys were chosen, the Founder's glass was a great touch and the fact that one of the main distillers chose the night to showcase it's oldest single malt to date, prior to general release, was icing on the cake.

Ar aon nós, Nollag Shona dhaoibh go leír agus beannachtaí an tSéasúir freisin!.

J.

[varizoltan]

Members were also told that they can receive a 20 euro discount on the Celtic Whiskey Shop's single cask 14 year old pure pot still bottling from Midleton on production of their Society membership card.

Make sure you ask for your 20 euro off and have your membership card with you, becouse not all staff knows about it