Don't know if threads on alcohol are frowned upon in here but I was talking to a whiskey drinker over the weekend about the virtues of Irish uisce beatha over Scottish or American whisky (and mixers if preferred).
Are there any whiskey drinkers out there that can tell me what real differences there are between a Jameson and a JD, a Tullamore Dew and a Glenfiddich. I'd only take a drop when I'm under the weather so I'm no expert.
i wouldn't call myself an expert but there are differences between each of the 3 whiskies.
irish whiskey is distilled 3 times, for a smoother taste. scotch is distilled twice and usually in oak barrels which gives it a harsher taste (in my view) and doesn't taste very nice either. bourbans (JD and Jim Beam) are only distilled once, and doesn't taste very good in my opinion.
usually the taste depends on what type of barrels the whiskey is stored in after it is distilled, and how long they are stored before being bottled and distributed for sales.
for example a 16 year old Bushmills has a smoother taste than a 12 year old Bushmills, but not by much.
edit: wording has been changed in case some one thinks bad of me! :P
jees paul; just read your last line there; ye better watch out, the paedo police will be after ye.................... ;D
Pervert!
LOL :-X
almost bought a bottle of midleton last week on Chicago O'Hare airport.
it was 100 dollars- think thats approx 75 euros , which is 45 euros cheaper than at home here...I should have bought it, its about the only whiskey that doesnt make me waht to retch immediately
while in scotland a while ago i was introduced to a blended whiskey called Glayva feckin gorgeous stuff.
Quote from: lynchbhoy on September 18, 2007, 12:58:54 PM
almost bought a bottle of midleton last week on Chicago O'Hare airport.
it was 100 dollars- think thats approx 75 euros , which is 45 euros cheaper than at home here...I should have bought it, its about the only whiskey that doesnt make me waht to retch immediately
You should have bought it is right. Ive a bottle saved up for the baby comin in december - and looking forward to it immensly this past 3 years.
Irish whiskey is, IMHO, much smoother and palatable than its scottish equivalent. If you are starting out drinking whiskey (and I dont mean shooting it at last orders) start with a jamesons/paddys/tullamore dew if its there. Ive not drank enough scotch to really comment, but id drink it with a mixer (at least some water) if I had to. Irish whiskey is preferable (to me) straight. Stay away from the bourbon unless you are in college and its 2 for 1 jack daniels and coke. I think its the harshest of the three to drink neat. It would definitely require a mixer.
Jameson is yer only man 8)
Scotch just tastes like Irish with a pile of cigarette butts drowned in it. Disgusting. Even worse than bourbon, though Jim Beam has its moments
Give me a Macallam (sp?) 12 or 18 y.o. with a couple of rocks of ice. Effing magic the best whiskey in the world. Single malt of course I might add.
At home we have a bottle of Pilwinnig 12 y.o unopened in its original velve pouch in the original box too. No longer distilled from what I can gather. Wonder what it's worth?
Anyone tried Johnny Walker Blue label?
I have a bottle of Middleton but only ration it, in crystal glasses, to annointed friends. When I'm finished it, it will be refilled with ordinary Powers and offered to all and sundry.
Have to say Jameson is a sweet one for me. Burbons taste like flat coke and Scoth is like Powers with turf mixed in ;). Doing Powers no favours here. Then again i have probably consumed my fair share of all.
Quote from: ludermor on September 18, 2007, 01:07:19 PM
while in scotland a while ago i was introduced to a blended whiskey called Glayva feckin gorgeous stuff.
I wouldnt call that stuff a blended whisky, its more of a dodgy liqueur! Sweet, sickly stuff which isnt deserving of the label whisky ;D
Remember about the one half funny joke Fred MacAulay ever told, that the only difference between Irish stuff and the Scotch was that the Irish put in an E in theirs ;D
I can appreciate the best of both, there are such varied varieties on both sides that you cant really IMO say you prefer Irish or Scottish.
powers
Adore the woody smokey Whiskey from Islay. Bowmore, Ardbeg etc. To die for. A man's drink.
It's a question of taste, I suppose. I can't stand the smoky taste and oily texture of Scotch, even the best single malts.
If you're ever in Cork, it's worthwhile taking the Midleton distillery tour (all Irish Distillers' whiskies are distilled there now). Their story on the history of whiskey is fascinating. One of the things they tell you (OK, they're not exactly unbiased) is that, while the Scots trumpet their smoky flavour, Irish whiskey connoisseurs consider that as contamination. It arises from the fact that the Scots always dried their malt over open (usually peat) fires and never figured out a way to keep the smoke away from the malt, whereas the Irish distillers centuries ago worked out a system of ducting the smoke away, while allowing the radiated heat to do its job. The result is that the Scots have for centuries been making a virtue of a defect in their technology.
Until the twentieth century, apparently, Irish was a byword for the best whiskey in the world. Then two or three things happened. First, prohibition in the US led to bootlegging. If you're a bootlegger, selling gut-rot moonshine, what are you going to label it as, in order to hoodwink the customer? Right – best Irish whiskey. So suddenly the name of Irish was mud.
Then, when prohibition suddenly ended, the Irish distillers, who had cut back production dramatically with the disappearance of their biggest market, were caught without capacity and couldn't supply the market. And if you add capacity now, you can't deliver properly aged whiskey for a number of years. Scotch accordingly gained a foothold in the US market that it has never lost. It did no harm to their cause that when your whiskey (sorry, whisky) tastes predominantly of smoke, it's harder to tell whether it's been properly aged.
Then, to further strengthen Scotch's hold on the American market, hundreds of thousands of GIs billeted in Britain during the war developed a taste for Scotch, which they brought back home with them and Scotch went from strength to strength, to the extent that it became synonymous with whiskey for most Americans.
I've bored many people with that story, so I don't see why this board should escape.
Anyway, for me, Midleton Very Rare is the best I've ever tasted, with Jameson 1780 next. After that, Redbreast or Crested Ten are what I'll order or have in the house for when I feel like something special. For a quick small one for the road after a few pints, I'll have a regular Jameson. I also love the good Bourbons – Jim Beam, Wild Turkey, Four Roses. Anything that tastes of smoke that finds its way into the house is used on visitors or for rubbing into a stiff knee.
If theres two lesbians having a shower together, how can you tell which one is an alcoholic??
The one with the Black Bush.