Our Favorite Irish Whiskeys
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 มิ.ย. 2024
- We spent two weeks touring Ireland from Dublin to Galway to Cork and back, and we tasted A LOT of Irish whiskey. From great budget sippers to some high end pours, we're excited to share our favorite Irish whiskeys. Slainté!
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Knappogue Castle was my favorite on this list. And yes, you pronounced the name correctly. 😁😁😁
JJ Corry puts out some stunners.
Super cool review! I’m really a Redbreast fan and Spot fan!
How fantastic was this journey! So glad you were able to enjoy it together!
Knappogue Castle 12 always has a place on my shelf!
So ironic...I was out of town this weekend and stopped into a "mini" chain local to the area I was at to check out what was available. Not really explored Irish much but decided to give a look and step out of my comfort zone. The exact bottle I put in my cart was your #5, the Knappogue Castle. Also in stepping out of my zone and in a move that may make Phil proud, saw my first bottle of a Stranahan's single barrel store pick. That made in the cart too. Both I have found quite delicious! Glad the trip has been so awesome so far for you two...Cheers!!
That's a great trip to the store, Russ! I am proud!
You will be able to find the West Cork quite easily in Oregon. I discovered it at a distillery event in Portland.
That's the only brand I hadn't heard of, all the rest are fairly easy to find some but not all expressions. The Gold Spot is very hard to get as well as the cask strength blue spot
Glad ye had a good time here in Ireland.
Only 1 problem with whiskey.for me after 2 glasses in drunk.
But love whiskey
That is so awesome that you got to go to Ireland! I've been to the airport but didn't get to go around and enjoy the country like you guys did. Thank you for sharing your experience with us, super cool!
Picked up a bottle of Gold Spot for my wife's birthday, not inexpensive but she is worth it!
That’s a great gift, cheers!
I spent my junior year of college in Dublin at Trinity College. What a year! I’m glad to see all the whiskey you found as it was basically Guinness and bushmills back then.
My son just gave me a Redbreast 21 and it’s awesome
That’s a great gift!
Good for you, for your journey and explorations in Ireland!🇮🇪🥃🥃☘ I'd heard that Irish distilling is undergoing a renaissance. Apparently, that's true, given the range of brands you encountered, many of which we don't see in the USA. And I'm really surprised by those pub prices!🙂
Thanks for the list and keep up the good work, you two. Sláinte!
Thanks a lot, John! Cheers!
So awesome. I'm lucky enough to have visited Ireland too and it was probably the best trip of my life. So beautiful and historic and fun. Cheers guys!
Great list!
Ive got the Powers John Lane and Redbreast 12 CS on the shelf and they are both incredible pours. Couldn’t agree with your list more! Enjoy Scotland!
Thanks Nate, cheers!
YESSSSSS! And I'm still getting through the initial commercials!
Yes redbreast is the best for sure. Great video.
So awesome you spent some time in Ireland. I hope to do the same. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and a bit of your experience. Take care!
Cheers, Jon!
Great episode! This video is by far an impetus to try more Irish whiskeys. Well done! ☘️ whiskeys cheers!🥃🥃
Haha, dipping into those high school trivia words over here. Cheers!
Nice!
Great list! Love the Powers and the Gold Spot. Hope y'all enjoyed your trip!
Cheers Tim!
Great to see that you guys are over on this side of the pond and enjoyed your Irish whiskeys. Those Redbreast picks are amazing, as is that Powers John's Lane. Top notch. Enjoy Scotland. Sláinte!
Thanks a lot, Al, Sláinte!
Did not care for the regular Green Spot, but the one finished in a Bordeaux cask was better. Found a 135th anniversary Gold Spot at a Costco in WA state, but have not opened it yet. Powers and Teeling are good and easy to find. Yes indeed, Redbreast is at the top of my list!
Great list. Great destination! Safe travels. I’m always jealous of Phil’s hair. Make it big bro!
LOL it's not going to get smaller any time soon since we won't be back for a bit yet. Look forward to at least one more video with an unwieldy wig haha.
Now you’ve done it, I just poured the last of my John’s Lane! It is so good. I overlooked this for years until a bourbon friend set me straight.
Well done !! Wish I was there !
My son is in Cork this semester.
It's been a long time for me,.. but very fond memories... 🥃 Cheers
We really enjoyed our time in Cork. It's a much larger city than we expected it to be!
Look at those peated whiskeys making Phil's list! Love the Writer's Tears. I'll be looking for several of the others I haven't tried yet.
Found Powers John's Lane at Binny's when I was there. I can get some Powers here in NC, but not that one.
John's Lane really is like a warm blanket at the end of the night. That's a bottle that will always be on our shelf if we can find it. And the Micil Inverin is such a delicious peated Irish whiskey. If you haven't tried that, I think you'd love it!
@@TheBourbonVan That's one I didn't know so I'll be on the lookout for it.
Nice list, I really like all of the Irish whiskey I have tried.
We used to say we've never had an Irish whiskey we didn't enjoy, but we did try a 6 year that was particularly lousy. Now we say, we've liked all but one, haha.
Great video, thank you. Over the past several years I have completely changed my opinion about Irish whiskeys. There are a lot of really great ones that I was able to sample at a couple Irish whiskey fests here in NYC. Try the tullamore dew 21 year old if you can find it! West Cork is great, as are the connemaras, knappogue castles, red breast, --spot . . . And so many others. Just goes to show that there are a great many superb whiskeys out there!
We continue to be surprised by the wide array of flavors and high quality of Irish whiskey. We simply followed the recommendations of the locals and they never let us down!
Excellent video!
And thank you for doing an Irish Whiskey video.
I agree with most of what you said, with the ones that I've tried ( I've tried about half). My top three.
3) Redbreast 12
2) Knappoque Castle (sp?)
1) Green Spot
I also love Writer's Tears Double Oak
And also even better is Roe & Co.
delicious and a great value.
Tried Roe & Co on the way out of town at the airport and can't disagree. Solid whiskey.
@@TheBourbonVan nice!
Thank you for telling me.
I wish you guys a great rest of your trip.
It's great that you were able to do this trip!
My life goal is to visit Ireland. Most of my ancestry is from there, and I do keep some Redbreast amongst my bourbon collection. Powers is also delicious !!
Method & Madness is definitely available in the US. In Pennsylvania you can get the single malt, the single pot still, and I think the single grain. One distillery I don't think you mentioned was kilbeggan. Their single pot still is very different than Redbreast or Green Spot. I really like Writer's Tears Copper Still (not the double oak variety). It is an extremely good Irish whiskey just between a standard blended Irish whiskey and a single pot still or single malt. I also really like Quiet Man blended whiskey, feels like a step up from Jameson.
Cant believe you never had a drop of Bushmills...so sad... great video
We actually had 3 varieties! Honestly, it's a little bourbon-like and we did enjoy it. It's also everywhere and readily available, so it could definitely be thrown in with the honorable mention category.
West Cork is definitely in Oregon!! Picked one up after watching the video, along with Redbreast Kentucky Oak. Really looking forward to both tonight.
Safe travels, cheers!
We've been told that several of these are waiting for us back home. We can't wait to add some new variety to the shelf!
Can’t wait to visit Ireland! Glad you are having a great time and I appreciate your top ten whiskey list! Did you try any Glendalough? Continued safe travels! 🥃😊
Cheers, Melissa! No Glendalough yet, but we've seen it around in the UK, so we may give it a try yet.
Not very much Irish whiskey experience, but the Redbreast 21 is one of my all time favourites. The 12 year Cask Strength is dynamite too. Eager to try the Yellow Spot which is currently on its way to me. Loving that you are sharing the experience; both here and especially on Patreon!!
We're glad you're enjoying the ride, Paul! We had several locals insist that Yellow Spot is their favorite whiskey.
Yellow spot is excellent and blue spot amazing too.
Great list! Powers John's Lane is fantastic!
Thanks Brian!
Finally an Irish whiskey review that has truth in it!!
Jameson doesn’t deserve a mention it’s some of the nastiest stuff I have ever tasted.
You, I would like to see the two of you do a blind tasting of off-the-shelf Tullamore DEW green label and basic Jamison (cat piss). Oops Jamison whiskey.
The last time I was in Ireland, I was shocked at the high prices on Irish Whiskey. I could get it cheaper in USA, and the bottles are smaller @ 700 ml. Sláinte💚🍀
We actually wondered about that. The bottle prices seemed a little high, but the pours were very reasonable.
Im glad you had a wonderful tripp. about the low proof/alc % i think its like here in Sweden you pay taxes for the Alc% the higher alc/proof the higher tax for it.
Redbreast Is arguably the best whisky anywhere, ever.
You can find the Knappogue brand at Total Wine.
Good to know!
Excelente lista... o problema vai ser achar essas opções aqui no Brasil!
Did you get a chance to try Waterford? I know they are young but they are doing some interesting things.
I don't believe we came across any of that, unfortunately.
Nice list, nothing wrong w Jameson and I love the Powers 3 Swallow. Need to try the John's Lane. Are we going to see any footage of the trip? Cheers, enjoy!
Our Patreons have gotten lots of photos and an additional video during the trip so far. We might share a little bit more travel footage at some point. Cheers!
The basic Powers lights me up.
Love the Irish brand reviews. I'm totally envious of your trip and hope that someday I will get to share in the same fortune. Redbreast 15 is awesome. Right up among my fav whiskies everywhere, and I'm a definite bourbon, Rye person. Question, pours seem to be cheaper priced there...but what about bottle purchases? Are they much cheaper than the states AND how many are you allowed to bring back with you?? Thx
We are still traveling, so we couldn't bring back any bottles. The bottle prices seemed a little high, actually. But the pours were very reasonable.
Can we assume you went to Midleton? I'm glad you ranked the spots and Red breast so highly. I went to Midleton and tried about 9 or 10 different whiskeys based on my research I'd done before going. Oddly, I actually like the Redbreast 12 better than Redbreast Lustau or the Redbreast 15 so I'm saving money there. I've done back to back tastings of the 12 and the 12 Cask Strength and the fact that I haven't decided means I should probably save money by not buying cask strength. I like it, but is it better? Maybe a little. I don't know.
Out of the spots I liked Green Spot as it contrasts well with Red Breast 12 and is affordable. I also liked Red Spot but haven't been able to get a bottle as shops in the states sometimes want $200 *if* they can even get it. It's not THAT good in my opinion, I wouldn't choose it over Redbreast 12 even if they were the same price but I did enjoy it.
We tried Teeling's stuff and to be honest can't remember what it tasted like... We also tried Tullamore Dew and I wouldn't buy their standard whiskey if I could get something else. Maybe some of their other offerings are better.
The Irish Whiskey scene is blowing up so fast that you need to probably go back annually. In 20 years Ireland has gone from 4 distilleries to about 42. Their US market has gone from 2% to almost equaling Scotch in the same amount of time. It's good stuff.
We will be doing a Scotland tour as well but my attempts to find my groove with scotch so far has failed so I need to go to some distilleries there to find the stuff I like most.
Oh, Method and Madness also comes out of Midleton as does the Spots and Redbreast. They have a small triple still for testing new "Methods and Madness" that you get to see if you go there. Other whiskeys coming out of Midleton are Midleton Very Rare, Powers, Writer's Tears, The Irishman, Paddy and Jameson. Tullamore Dew used to be produced at Midleton but is back in Tullamore now.
It's interesting that most of the ones you really liked come out of one distillery. If by chance you didn't go to Midleton you have something to do the next time you're in Ireland!
Interesting timing. I just returned from Ireland (Oct 11-18th). I visited the Jameson Midleton distillery ( and the Jameson Dublin). The spots are great. I purchased the blue spot because I can not find it in TN. It was 85 Euro a bottle and it is a cast strength 7 year maturation. I went to Ireland to buy the Midleton Dair Ghaelach Kylebeg Tree (1-6). I purchased the Tree 3 and Tree 6. I too like the RB 27 but did not buy it (too much $). Instead I purchased the Irishman 17 and Bushmills 21 both for about half of the RB27 cost. Shop the loop in the Dublin Airport for the best prices. Salainte!
Irishman 17 is very, very good. It sounds like you went home with some really special bottles!
Great list, I'll have to track some of those down! I've always loved PJL, the Redbreast line, KC and Yellow Spot, but not so much the peated Irish whiskies. Time to reevaluate? I think so.
Haha, there's plenty of them to choose from now!
Method, Redbreast, Spots, Jameson, and Powers are all under Midleton. Great line-up you guys had. Really surprised you liked the Connemara 12.. most people say their bottles tasted like kerosene. The Silkie brand is a good peated line too if you ever see it back home. How long were you guys there? Did you skip over to Scotland now, or are you making a plan for next year? I really enjoyed seeing the Van gone International.
We had 2 great weeks in Ireland, followed by 72 hours in Edinburgh, and we're closing out our trip with family in London. We already want to get back to Scotland. It was amazing.
I hope that you guys did try the Redbreast 27. Its a $650 bottle and that for a pour of that expensive of a bottle is really good. Its great to see you guys are enjoying yourselves.
Thanks Fred! On our last night, some locals at a great Dublin bar took us on a tasting journey of some very rare and unique whiskeys (including some items pulled straight from barrels at Midleton). We never tried the 27, but we did get to try a 17 year 120-proof pour that blew our minds and ultimately put us to sleep, haha.
Huh the 27 year is just $550 around me. Still too rich for my blood.
@@jordanthecoder Well the 27 is $649 by me. Sorry.
Are you bringing any bottles home?
We plan to spend a bit of time in duty free before flying home from London, but we travel light so we won't bring much. Fortunately, our favorite whiskeys from this trip are mostly things we can find in the US, so it'll give us a bit of an opportunity to grab them when we see them. Thankfully, now we know what we're looking for.
Ladies and gentlemen…. The Bourbon Van presents: Julie’s Irish ☘️ reading corner 🥃
We will definitely do more readings from that book. This was one of the more tame excerpts lol.
Have you had Slane or did you try Slane?
Slane was our original entry into Irish whiskey. It's a favorite for sure.
I would like to hear if the bottles work for an Irish coffee. i know you drink it on the rocks. But Irish Coffee is a classic.
I'm not big on coffee, but Julie loves Baileys with her coffee, so that's about all we can speak to.
@@TheBourbonVan Ok! choose another cocktail. it would be intresting to hear if any whiskey works in any cocktail. For those like me. That dont drink it on the rocks.
I was wondering about how many bottles you were allowed to bring back as whiskey tourists?
Not sure! We traveled to see family in London after Ireland and only brought back 3 bottles from Heatherow.
Try Dingle
Tried a great pour of Dingle Whiskey on our last night, but not totally sure what it was. We have photos of all of it, but the last evening was a bit of a blur...
The best Irish whiskey for me is Redbreast 12 or 15 by a country mile 💯😁
The 15 is shockingly good. It's so complex.
Bushmills didn't make the cut?
I don't think Bushmills makes the cut. I've gone through four bottles of Red breast and three of Greenspot in the time that I've gone through half of my Bushmills Black Bush. Taste is subjective but I'm not sure it belongs in the same company. I'll have to go back and do AB testing again but the last time I did the style felt closer to a highland scotch than the other Irish whiskeys. That will give me something to do tonight! :-)
put some product in that hair Phil!.... says the balheaded man
LOL
Have you guys tried proper twelve, it goes for like 30$
We haven’t yet. The locals suggested many times that we avoid that one. We have no issues with it, but there were other whiskeys higher up on the list during our travels.
Modern irish whisky scene is well engineerd spirits for a modern generation market, Powers Johns Lane 12 is OK , but oh LOrd pls dont say is SO SO Good , Its OK at best. Scotch dont need to worry from Irish spirits invasion, so much E150 caramel in irish spirit compared to scotch malts in recent times, West Cork, Waterford ,Killbeggan, Cimappogue Castle, Writers tears,Jameson,Paddy whisch one can compete with Arran,Ardbeg,Aberlour,Bruichladdich,Deanston, Benriach,Benromach,Balvenie, Glenmorangie,Glengoyne,Glenallache,Glendronach,GlenfarclasAultmore,Bunahabhain,Springbank,Old Pulteney,Mortlach, Glen Scotia, Tomatin,The Glenrothes,Jura,Lagavulin, Caol ila, Bowmore, Longmorn,Laphroig,Port Chatrlotte,Spey and hundreds more....only Redbreast makes it and Rare Middletons and crazy expensive versions of Jameson.
Irish whiskey is far superior to scotch.