Irish Whisky News group

place is dead. What's the deal? No one likes Irish Whisky?

I bought in some Connemara last week. It is verrrry light. It says "lightly peated" on the bottle, but sampled side by side with Highland Park, it makes the Highland Park taste like Ardbeg. Which is a good thing.

I can't imagine going all the way over to an Irish whisky news group to talk about it though.

I like it a lot - but like my other great whisky love, Bourbon, there is not as much interest in arguing and debating it, I suppose.

Jameson, seems to have improved greatly in the last 10 years or so - picked up a bottle of their standard blend and was blown away on how good it was - though much lighter than Scotch blends or single malts, still amazingly good compared to what it used to be.

If you want to continue - we can take it back to that group?

I love Irish whiskey but I did not know they have a newsgroup. How do I find it?

I frequently check and post on the yahoo Irish whiskey site:

There is a Yahoo group, "irishwhiskey", that is more active. Many people like Irish whiskey, but there is such a small selection that there just isn't much discussion.

Regards, jimbo

The group is on news servers at alt.drinks.irish-whiskey but it is mostly spam, some cross posts and not much else. So far the "irishwhiskey" on Yahoo Groups is the best source for whiskey banter, Lex's new discussion forum on

also has some talk. Unfortunately it doesn't seem that Pajo's website will be up and running for awhile to come -- a real loss in cyberspace for Irish whiskey discussion.

Johanna

snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote:

The bourbon discussion board at this site is awesome. I hope to see you there:

Your friend, John

I'll second the notion that Jameson's has been improving in recent years. And I'm quite fond of Irish whisky in general. The Irish whiskey newsgroup is not carried on my news server, but can be called up on Google. I don't think it has ever had the volume of discussion that alt.drinks.scotch-whisky has had; partly, for reasons just as bromo has stated above. And also, there has always been at least a little discussion of Irish whiskey (and Canadian whisky and bourbon) in this newsgroup. There are only three distilleries currently active, and only a handful of Irish whiskies have been imported to the U.S., though in recent years it has gotten better and there are some magnificent Irish whiskies out there if you look hard.

I'm always interested in hearing about anyone's impressions of Irish whiskey, but another thing is that it seems (to me anyway) as harder to describe the taste of Irish whiskey than it is to describe the taste of scotch.

Also, St.Paddy's is right around the corner...

Bart

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"...and as older I'm growin' time's ever bestowin' on Erin's potation a flavor so fine,

that how e'er they lecture on Jove and his Nectar Itself! is the only true liquid divine!..."

----- from "The Humors of Whiskey"

I'm fond of Connemara, but it has varied a bit in my experience. My first bottle several years ago ('98?) was quite heavily peated, but heavy peat mixed with a typical Irish whiskey flavor seemed weird - still, I liked it.

My next bottle was less heavily peated but better integrated. Still peaty, though. And so it goes, noticibly different in peating levels from year to year. I haven't had one so low in peat as to make Highland Park taste like Ardbeg... yet.

The cask strength Connemara, which became available here in the last year or so, is quite a magnificent though... The new 12yo has not arrived on local shelves yet, but they usually get big shipments of Irish whiskey as Saint Patrick's Day approaches... I'm hoping!

Bart

Supernews, my ISP's newsfeed, doesn't carry it. My University news server still carries it, but I get the impression that it's one of those groups that didn't get chartered.

It's a close contest but between the cask strength and the new 12yo, the Connemara 12yo is probably their best effort yet and although expensive, worthwhile if you're a fan. Gorgeous peat but not Islayish IMO, more like a mainland peated SMW, oodles of complexity, just delicious.

My two cents.

Johanna

I saw another nice comment about this one on the Malts-List. I'm getting that sinking feeling... this is one of those 700ml bottlings that will never see shelf space in the U.S.? Say it ain't so...

Bart

Don't feel bad Bart, the other nice comment you saw was based on a sample I sent out. On the one hand the distillery says it's moving fast, but on the other hand I can't seem to see where it's being sold outside of Ireland, other than the Potstill and The Whisky Exchange. Last I heard though Preiss Imports would be bringing into the US sometime this year.

Johanna

Bart wrote:

Thanks for the happy news. I'll keep watching for it.

Bart