worth the price???

[gehlville2]

I just found a couple "new" Irish whiskeys, at least in upstate New York (USA). Anyone have experience with them? They are pricey, ($100-$125 USD) but I'll spend the money if they're worth it.

1) Bushmills Millenium Malt
2) Magilligan Irish Single Malt
3) Bushmills Malt 21 year old - Madiera
4) Connemara 12 year old Peated Single Malt
5) Midleton Very Rare
6) Knappogue Castle 15 year old Single Malt

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks

[Fionnán]

It depends what you're looking for;

In my personal opinion, i'd say: Connemara 12 yr old is a brilliant whiskey but it's fairly heavily peated and more characteristically scotch than irish in its flavor profile, so make sure that's what you want before you buy a whole bottle. Like connemara, Magiligan is a peated release from the Cooley stock. Unlike connemara however, which is big and flavorsome, Magilligan is a fairly light 8 year old malt in which the peat doesnt come through half as strongly. They also used to have an obnoxious habit of misleadingly labeling this whiskey as a "pure pot still single malt" to rope in PPS fans although i'm not sure if they still do this. In any case, if you're buying a peated Cooley malt, i'd reccomend the Connemara well before this stuff. Furthermore, if you're being charged over $100 for Magilligan, you're being swindled.
Midleton is a splendid blend but its astronomically over priced for what it is and if you're only buying one bottle off this list i wouldnt choose it.
Bushmills 21 is a fantastic example of a madeira finish that really pulls its weight and, in my opinion, one of the absolute best single malt irish whiskeys currently in production. Its got lovely jam like flavors and toffee notes that set it apart from the fruitier port influenced Bushmills 16 yr old. If you're set on buying an Irish whiskey in the over $100 range, this will always be a major contender. The whiskey spends the first 19 years of its life in both ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks, before these two separately aging expressions of the same whiskey are vated together in a single ex-madeira cask in which the bourbon and sherry influences are married under the blanket of the new barrel's toffee like madeira influence for a final period of 2 years. The result is a multilayered experiment in seasoning and finish in which each element compliments the others with astonishing style. Knappogue is an interesting whiskey formerly made from the Cooley stock but now produced out of Bushmills. The more recent bottlings are an example of what would happen if you let Bushmills single malt whiskey mature strictly in ex-bourbon casks rather than all the variation it would normally get exposed to. However, this 15 yr old reaches back to the 1990, 1991, and 1992 vattings, a time when they were still getting their malt strait from Cooley so if you like cooley's unmalted spirit (the tyrconnell line, locke's etc) you might really enjoy this one too. Personally, i like cooley's unmalted spirit best when its been finished with something interesting like the port and madeira finished tyrconnel releases. That being said, i've heard rather excellent things about this particular release. As for the Bushmills millenium malt, it's a discontinued 25 year old expression of Bushmills that was released back when IDL were still in charge of the bushmills line and it's now been discontinued. As such, it's a bit of a rarity and i've usually seen it priced from $150-$300 in the states so if you're finding it at $125 or less, it sounds like you've got it at a bit of a deal. Bushmills' old policy used to be to allow for the light, tripple distilled 'house character' to shine through their whiskeys but they've really fallen in love with woods and finnishes in the last 40 years so this might be a strong example of an older style of bushmills. Personally, i find Bushmills hit their stride with their interesting use of wood and seasoning so i wouldnt be too quick to place it over the multi-layered depth of the madeira finished 21 year old.

In short, if you want a classic Irish malt with real depth and excellence in the genre, i'd say go for the Bushmills 21. If you're looking something a bit atypical with a bit more of a Scottish accent, go for the Connemara. If you're looking for a collector's item, spring for the millenium malt as you're unlikely to find it cheaper than that.

Did i leave anything out? anyway, that's just one man's opinion but i hope it helps

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

A quick fly through from my point of View


Yes 1) Bushmills Millenium Malt
No (Collectable) 2) Magilligan Irish Single Malt
Yes 3) Bushmills Malt 21 year old - Madiera
Depends on the price of the Cask Strength version if nearly double No 4) Connemara 12 year old Peated Single Malt
Debatable but for me No 5) Midleton Very Rare
Possibly 6) Knappogue Castle 15 year old Single Malt

[gehlville2]

Great input!

Thanks for the help!