Easy Drinking, Light and Smooth: Made with pure Irish Spring Water
By Matt Goldstein
The Knappogue Castle 12 Years Aged Single Malt Irish Whiskey is distilled in copper pots with malted barley and aged in oak casks. Made with pure Irish spring water and lightly chill filtered, the Knappogue Castle 12 Year is very light in color. Lightly Scotch esque and very smooth the Knappogue is dry and slightly bitter. For those looking for a very light, smooth and easy drinking Irish whiskey, the Knappogue is for you. Well rounded with medium intensity and a clean finish, Knappogue is a uniquely light but whiskey but still retains character.
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Awards for Knappogue Castle 12 Years Aged Single Malt Irish Whiskey:
Top 10 Must Drink Irish Whiskeys - Forbes.com
Platinum Award Winner - World Beverage Competition
Spirit of the Year - Food and Wine Magazine
Silver Medal - San Francisco World Spirits Competition
The Readbreast 12 year Irish whiskey is absolutely an outstanding whiskey. It’s one of the best whiskeys we’ve ever had period. Redbreast 12 Year is perhaps the smoothest Irish whiskey we’ve ever on the planet. With a scotch like complexity and a bit of sweetness, it had the perfect whiskey flavor but not too much that it dominates the drink. The bite is absolutely flawless. Redbreast 12 Year is the only aged pure pot still whiskey in the world and is matured in sherry and bourbon casks.
The Elijah Craig 18 Year:
A very strong single barrel bourbon, the Elijah Craig 12 year, has a great bite and a lot of flavor for bourbon. One knows right away that you are drinking bourbon. The Elijah Craig 18 year is the oldest single barrel bourbon in the world. After the 18 years almost two thirds of the barrel has evaporated. Not only are aged whiskeys, cognacs and rums more expensive to store for that period of time, but after so long, there is so little of the actual drink left to consume that a fine aged whiskey has to come with a serious price tag. If you’re a fan of bourbon, the Elijah Craig 18 year is an excellent choice.
Woodford Reserve:
The Woodfor Reserve is a handcrafted 90.4 proof Kentucky Straight Bourbon. I’ve had this 5 other times and liked it, but now it showed true character. With a great bourbon flavor, it’s much more subtle than the Elijah Craig. It’s a great balance for a bourbon whiskey with a little complexity and rather smooth.
After many futile attempts at trying to come up with a more manly way to say whiskey “tasting” we just said forget it and got lit. It was the Whiskey Goldmine. We had 8 different whiskeys from bourbon to Irish whiskey and just plain old regular whiskey. The goldmine did not disappoint.
The career bourbon drinker Jimmy Barlieb, myself and special guest appearance by the one and only track star champion and softball phenom, Steve Tuteur poured about a shot each whiskey sipped them in a completely random order, sometimes with ice, sometimes without. We also did a few shots hear and there depending on the mood and type of whiskey.
The Redbreast 12 Year:
Redbreast Irish whiskey was absolutely outstanding and by far the best whiskey of the evening. Redbreast 12 Year is perhaps the smoothest Irish whiskey we’ve ever tasted. With a scotch like complexity and a bit of sweetness, it had the perfect whiskey flavor but not too much that it dominated the entire drink. The bite was absolutely flawless. Redbreast 12 Year is the only aged pure pot still whiskey in the world and is matured in sherry and bourbon casks.
The Elijah Craig 18 Year:
The Elijah Craig single barrel bourbon was very strong. It had a great bite and a lot of flavor for bourbon. You knew right away that you were drinking bourbon. The Elijah Craig 18 year is the oldest single sarrel bourbon in the world. After the 18 years almost two thirds of the barrel has evaporated. Not only are aged whiskeys, cognacs and rums more expensive to store for that period of time, but after so long, there is so little of the actual drink left to consume that a fine aged whiskey has to come with a serious price tag. If you’re a fan of bourbon, the Elijah Craig 18 year is an excellent choice.
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Woodford Reserve:
Woodford Reserve is a handcrafted 90.4 proof Kentucky Straight Bourbon. I’ve had this 4 other times and liked it, but this time it really grew on me. Although it has the bourbon flavor, it’s much more subtle than the Elijah Craig. It’s a great balance for a bourbon whiskey with a little complexity and rather smooth.
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Powers Gold Label 12 Year Special Reserve:
Powers 12 isa blended Irish whiskey. It doesn’t have as much flavor as the regular Powers Gold Label but it’s certainly smooth enough for a straight sipping whiskey. Powers Special Reserve 12 years aged is crafted from the finest Irish Barley and water, triple distilled and matured in American Oak casks. Powers Gold Label is the best selling whiskey in Ireland. Yes, it crushes Jameson in sales actually.
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Wild Turkey Rare Breed:
Rare Breed is a Kentucky Straight Bourbon. What a badass shot of whiskey! WOW! We love it! Rare Breed is barrel proof at 108.6. According to bourbonenthusiast.com, Wild Turkey Rare Breed bourbon is a unique blend of Wild Turkey 6 year, 8 year and 12 year-old stocks.
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Bulleit Bourbon:
Bulleit is distilled and aged in small batches and stored in a single-story warehouse. It’s a 90 proof bourbon whiskey which is “formulated by mingling, not blending,” two and sometimes three different batches. Bulleit is very strong and dry whiskey with a heavy of bourbon flavor. With a high content of rye, the Bulleit is called the frontier whiskey. It wasn’t one of my favorites of the night but our writer Jon Rosenberg seems to love it. Jon described Bulleit as follows, “There’s that glorious aftertaste: the second after the drink goes down there’s this lingering something that I have only ever found in Bulleit. It’s the sort of special flavor that can bring to mind old memories in a flash…”
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Jack Daniels Old Number 7:
Jack DanielsTennessee whiskey speaks for itself. By far one of our favorite whiskey shots in the world, Jack Daniels is aged in white oak barrels characterized by the famous charcoal mellow. It’s made very much like bourbon, but since it’s not from Kentucky, technically it’s just a whiskey. But who cares? It’s not where you’re from; it’s where you’re at. Old Number 7 is more of a shot whiskey than a sipping whiskey but Gentlemen Jack is a perfect sipping whiskey. A review of the single barrel is coming very soon as well.
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The Makers Mark:
The Makers Mark was not actually opened on this night because we were pretty lit from all the other whiskeys, but we’ve had it plenty of times so we can tell you all about it. Makers Mark is a Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. It’s a single barrel small batch whiskey. Maker’s Mark is a solid shot drinking whiskey and definitely a better sipping than Jack.
The Whiskey Armageddon: To compliment the whiskey, we drank Guinness and smoked couple Oliva Seri V, and CAO Brazilia cigars. The official song of the night was When the Man Comes Around by Johnny Cash. What’s better than a biblical song about Armageddon to help you savor the whiskey? When the Johnny Cash song came on all hell broke loose. I had no choice but to punch Jimmy right in his mouth. He shouldn’t have dropped his guard; that was pretty stupid. His lip was bleeding. Oops. He then tackled me and beat the crap out of me. It was awesome. If there was a whiskey goldmine, I’m pretty sure we found it.
“Will you partake in that last offered cup, or disappear into the potter’s ground? When the man comes around.”
Powers Reigns Supreme Over the Best Whiskey Shots in the World!
By Matt Goldstein
1. Powers Irish Whiskey Gold Label
Established in 1791 in Dublin, Powers is now the most popular whiskey in Ireland. Powers is also the most popular whiskey in Philadelphia’s infamous Chestnut Hill Bocce Club, home to many Irish hoodlums and 1 lonely Jew, me.
2. Jameson Irish Whiskey, Triple Distilled
Established in 1780 in Dublin, Jameson now sells 30 million bottles annually and is by far the best selling Irish Whiskey in the world.
3. Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey, Old Number 7 Brand
This Lynchburg Tennessee native is made with a signature Charcoal Mellow and aged in hand crafted barrels. Established in 1875, Jack Daniels has a net income of $121 million.
4. Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey, Triple Distilled
Founded in Tullamore, Offaly County in the heart of Ireland in 1822, this “legendary” Irish Whiskey is famous for it’s copper pot still blend. Tullamore Dew is the 2nd best selling Irish Whiskey in the world and is also growing the fastest.
5. Crown Royal Canadian Whiskey
Created in 1939, the Segrams president decided to make a special whiskey blend for the arrival of King George IV and Queen Elizabeth, hence the royal blue, velvet bag. Crown Royal always performs well in international competitions and is the best selling Canadian whiskey in the United States.
6. Bushmills Irish Whiskey, triple distilled
7. Makers Mark Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
8. Jim Beam Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Sour Mash
9. Old Grand Dad Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
10. Wild Turkey Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Random Whiskey Shots:
I bet you are asking yourself how I came up with such an iron clad, scientifically factual top 10 list that cannot be changed, ever! Well, It was years of practice my friend. I bet you are also asking yourself how you can join the prestigious members only Bocce Club. Well, I doubt you can afford the very pricey $40 a year membership fee that comes with about 80 shots of free Powers annually. The Bocce Club is an elite force of Irish hoodlums and former Italian Mafioso, and I’m the only Jew allowed in, although I have been kicked out and I think suspended or something, but that’s all in the past. You are probably also annoyed that I stopped those amazing little synopsis paragraphs after Crown Royal. The truth is that I have to go to the gym before my wife starts yelling at me to clean the house, which will never happen by the way. I have to burn off those three shots of Powers from yesterdays Bocce outing that were somewhere between the 12 beers tailgating at a Phillies game in 100 degree weather. Ugh! Never again. But the whiskeys listed 6-10 are certainly deserving in their own right. Jim Beam actually produces Baker’s, Basil Hayden’s, Booker’s and Knobb Creek. So if you thought Jim Beam was cheap, middle shelf, think again. Jim Beam is probably the finest Bourbon Whiskey distiller in the world! Also, this list is about doing shots, not sipping, so stop being a whiney little girl.
Easy Drinking, Light and Smooth: Made with pure Irish Spring Water
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