Post-St. Patrick’s Day, It’s Time To Talk About New Irish Whiskeys

Although there is always a flurry of articles about Irish whiskey in advance of St. Patrick’s Day, it may be the wrong time to praise them. The feast day is not known for its temperance, or for discerning drinking, so despite sales of Irish whiskey spiking (in a soaring market) in March, I think it better to discuss what’s new in a more sober post-St. Paddy’s Day conversation. Thus, here are some Irish whiskeys well worth savoring year round.

FLYING TUMBLER—Based out of County Carlow, brothers Thomas and Patrick Walsh named their whiskey after “a venturesome pigeon that sets out on great voyages across the globe while maintaining a natural beacon for home.” It is matured in first-fill ex-bourbon casks and neither chilled nor artificially colored. They make three types. The Bird ($31.99), which is the only one currently available in the U.S., is a blend of triple distilled grain and malt whiskies aged in Oloroso sherry oak casks for over 12 months, then blended with triple distilled single grain and single malt whiskies matured in ex-bourbon oak casks, at 43% alcohol.

DINGLE SINGLE MALT WHISKEY ($100) —Single malt whiskeys are rare out of Ireland, though their number is increasing. Dingle was one of the first, and most expensive, produced as a core single malt, that is, created entirely from its own spirit. It is a triple distilled, non-chill filtered whiskey bottled at 46.3% alcohol, from malt whiskey matured in ex-bourbon (39%), and PX Sherry Casks (61%), for six to seven years. There is also a sixth and final release of its Single Malt Batch series ($69) , with some 15,000 bottles made with a Tawny Port maturation and with an additional 1,000 Cask Strength bottles available, at 46.5%.

WRITERS’ TEARS “Red Head” ($69.99)—Given Irish writers’ penchant for sentimentality, Writers’ Tears is well named. It’s a Single Malt Irish Whiskey that enters the producer’s array of Copper Pot, Double Oak and annual Cask Strength whiskeys. “Red Head” is matured in Spanish sherry casks, previously seasoned with the sweet Oloroso sherry, which gives the whiskey a ruby-colored hue, hence its name. It is bottled at 46% alcohol. The series began under creator Bernard Walsh in 2009, and now there are three of the limited-edition expressions in the range under the Writers’ Tears Copper Pot line of different finishes, including Ice Wine, Marsala and Mizunara.

POWERS IRISH RYE ($32)—Irish whiskey is always made with malted barley, except when it is not, and Powers is made from 100% rye—they claim it’s the world’s first— aged in American oak, arriving at 43.2% alcohol. Powers is, however, no newcomer, having been founded by James Power in 1791 in Dublin as a distillery. Its introduction to the U.S. at the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893 gave it great popularity here. It is still bottled in-house, and they even created their own signature cut-glass tumbler to serve the spirits in.

DropboxWriters’ Tears Red Head
GoogleFlying Tumbler Press Kit – Google Drive