Richard’s Blog

National Rum Day

/ / Other Spirits, Richard's Blog

Did you know that August 16th is National Rum Day? I didn’t either until the people at the PR firm representing Cruzan Rum told me. They were also kind enough to send me a bottle to review and and few recipes. The review will follow shortly. For now, check out their suggested celebration drinks….

CRUZAN® “DON’T HURRY” CANE

Ingredients:
1 part Cruzan® Vanilla Rum
2 parts Cruzan® Aged Light Rum
1 tsp Sugar
3 Lime Wedges
Method: Combine 2 of the lime wedges, sugar & Cruzan Vanilla Rum in a tumbler and lightly muddle for ten seconds. Add Cruzan Aged Light Rum and a scoop of ice and shake hard for 20 seconds. Strain into a chilled Hurricane glass and garnish with the final lime wedge.

CRUZAN® TAKE 9

Ingredients:
1 1/2 parts Cruzan® 9 Spiced Rum
3/4 part Dry Vermouth
1/4 part Curacao
1/2 tsp Grenadine
Orange Twist
Method: Combine all ingredients over ice in a tumbler and stir for 30 seconds. Strain into a chilled Martini coupe. Garnish with an orange twist.

CRUZAN® COCONUT OLD FASHIONED

Ingredients:
2 parts Cruzan® Single Barrel Rum
1/2 part Rich Simple Syrup
3 dashes of Bitters
Coconut Water Ice Cubes (see additional recipe below)
Method: Cut a wide swath of orange peel and lightly press it in the bottom of a rocks glass. Add rum, syrup and bitters. Now drop in a few Coconut Water Ice Cubes and stir gently.

Coconut Water Ice Cubes Recipe: Pour a can of Coconut Water (strain the pulp out first, if needed) in an ice cube tray – the bigger the cube try the better – and freeze for several hours.

Enjoy!

Richard

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Whisk(e)y Apostle Goings On

/ / Richard's Blog, Scottish Whisky

Some of my content may have seemed a little screwy lately. I started off on run of Irish whiskey reviews and a review of the Old Jameson Distillery coming off of my trip to Ireland. From there I was quiet for a while and then Four Roses, Spicebox, SoCo, and rum reviews popped up. Well, believe it or not I do have a plan in mind respective of when and what I review and what other content gets posted. That grand plan gets a little derailed when I have new product come in. I feel personally obligated to move up reviews of anything I received from producers. They don’t hound me (well some of the PR folks might 🙂 ) but I just feel it’s proper etiquette. That’s what caused the pause in my Ireland segment.

Along those same lines I was invited to be part of a unique program recently and that might delay the rest of my Ireland content just a little longer. Last week I was invited to be a part of the Blogger Sample Program for the Scotch Malt Whisky Society of America. Was does that mean? Well, plainly put they want me to take a stab at most of the casks they release to their members. For those not familiar with the SMWSA it’s a member’s only organization that sources and privately bottles unique casks at cask strength for their members. For the record I am not a member and I am not pimping for them. Believe it or not I was conflicted about whether or not to accept the offer and if I did what kind of coverage I could provide. Up until now I haven’t reviewed any independent bottlings of single malt scotch. Partially this was because they weren’t as widely available and therefore most of the Whisk(e)y Apostle family might not be able try them. There is also the problem that I lived in Atlanta and now live in Columbia. Georgia and South Carolina aren’t exactly on the short list for most independent bottlers’ distribution. There’s also just so much scotch out there that I haven’t needed to expand into independent bottlings. Really, I’ve still got plenty of the standard line up to review.

So why did I decide to do it? Free whiskey is always hard to turn down. That’s a given. However, it also gives me the opportunity to share part of the wider world of independently bottled scotch with all of you. I’m sure the SMWSA hopes it will drive membership and it probably will. They aren’t known for selecting crap casks. But even with the decision to participate made I was still unsure about what to say. I first considered just reviewing them with tasting notes but giving no rating but that just seemed kind of silly. I want all of you to know what I think about the whiskies and how they stack up to some of the regular stuff you are already drinking. I will however, be tagging the SMWSA reviews as such and giving them their own section in the Review Archive. It would be hard to miss them even if I didn’t. The SMWSA only gives you cask numbers and region of origin by which to distinguish them.

Hopefully, all of you will enjoy the additional content as much as I will. It’s going to keep me on my toes. They release 3 to 5 new whiskies every 3 to 4 weeks. Let’s hope I can keep up! Based on the limited quantities of each cask and frequency of new releases the SMWSA releases will jump ahead of whatever else I’m reviewing unless it is product sent to me by another producer. The first review will post later today and the next three will follow in the next couple of days. I hope you all enjoy!

Drink wisely my friends,

Richard

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Distillery Tour: The Old Jameson Distillery

/ / Distillery Tours, Irish Whiskey, Richard's Blog

The Old Jameson Distillery is located in Dublin. If you’ve never been to Dublin then let me tell you that in early May it can be rainy and cold as hell. In all fairness it was only in the upper 40’s when I was there but the drizzling rain and gusting wind made it feel much colder. So with that as my weather back drop my wife and I were looking for things to do inside while we were in Dublin. The Old Jameson Distillery fit the bill quite nicely. Honestly, my wife and I both love Irish whiskey so it wasn’t really a hard sell. The distillery is located in the Smithfield area of Dublin and is open for tours seven days a week. Tours runs every 25 minutes with the last one starting at 5:15 PM. Tickets are 13 Euros per person and that includes a drink of Jameson at the end. Unlike some Scottish distilleries the ticket price cannot be put toward any subsequent purchases in their gift shop.

If you decide to go for a visit you go in and get your tickets and then you wait. And wait. This is one of the top visitor attractions in Dublin. It’s big with the international crowd. You definitely won’t be the only foreigners there. Jameson is enjoyed around the world. You will likely be with other Americans, Germans, French, Russians, Japanese, and a whole host of others. Tours are generally conducted in English unless there is a tour group that makes other arrangements in advance. While you are waiting for your tour to begin you can do some early reconnaissance in the gift shop; have a drink of any of Irish Distillers fine whiskeys, cocktails, or Irish coffee in JJ’s bar; or head upstairs to the 3rd Still Restaurant for an a la carte meal. The restaurant is quite nice and all the staff throughout the distillery are very friendly and helpful.

Now they finally called your tour number. What are you going to see? First, let’s level set expectations a little bit. This used to be a distillery. Now it’s the Jameson Experience. Think of it like an homage to Jameson Whiskey. Spirit hasn’t flowed here since 1971, shortly after to merger in 1966 that created Irish Distillers from John Power & Son, John Jameson & Son, and Cork Distillery Company. The only “real” distillery tour (by bourbon and scotch standards) that you will find in Ireland now is up at Bushmills. Don’t let that dissuade you. It’s still a nice little joint. So with that we go on our tour. You start off with an intro speech from the tour guide and a video extolling the wonder that is Jameson Irish Whiskey. It’s a cute propaganda video that’s not too long and somewhat entertaining. After that you begin the tour proper. You are guided through the facility to different preset stations, each highlighting a different aspect of the whiskey making process. It’s not too exciting and anyone who regularly follows this site or reads up on whiskey probably won’t learn much.

At the end of the tour the guide will select six to eight people from each group to do a special tasting. As you are ushered into the tasting room most people will choose a Jameson beverage immediately to the right. You can get your Jameson straight up, with ginger ale, with cranberry juice, with Sprite, or over ice. Between my wife and me we got it neat and with ginger ale. Those individuals chosen for the special tasting will taste Jameson head to head with Jack Daniels and Johnnie Walker Black. The guide then takes a poll on who likes Jameson the best and presents the participants with a Whiskey Taster Certificate. You get a closing speech from the guide and then conveniently come out near the gift shop.

The gift shop was my favorite part. You can get all the Jameson gear you could want including t-shirts, sweaters, umbrellas, hats, chocolates, and a bunch more. You can also buy just about every whiskey Irish Distillers makes. The Distillery Reserve is an interesting pick as it’s only available at the The Old Jameson Distillery and The Old Midleton Distillery gift shops and you can get a bottle personalized. For everything else you would do better buying it at home or duty free because the prices (taxes) are steep.

That’s it. Is this a Mecca or utopia of Irish whiskey? No, but it’s a fun diversion if you are in Dublin and are inclined to go.

The Old Jameson Distillery
Bow Street, Smithfield, Dublin 7
353 1 807 2355
Open 7 Days a week from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM
3rd Still Restaurant open from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM

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Whiskey Shopping in Ireland (2012)

/ / Irish Whiskey, Richard's Blog

(Note – this was originally posted in 2012, so prices may have changed; but the gist still holds true)

As those of you who follow the Whisk(e)y Apostle Twitter feed know I recently went to Ireland with my wife for vacation. Among all the castles, Mesolithic burial mounds, and endless natural beauty I also tried to do a little whiskey tourism too. I know, go figure. I have plenty of great things to share with you but I thought I’d start off with shopping. No, I’m not talking about the couture shops in Dublin or that perfect Irish wool sweater. I’m talking about whiskey shopping. If I could put it into one sentence it would be this. Don’t buy Irish whiskey in Ireland.

Did that surprise some of you? Well, it surprised the hell out of me too. Let me elaborate. Given the variety of Irish whiskeys available in the U.S. and through other outlets you’re hard pressed to find too many Ireland only bottles. For the rest of the selection you’ll easily find better prices elsewhere. Taxes on Ireland’s native spirit are astronomical compared to what you’ll pay here. Let’s use a regular bottle of Jameson (750ml US/700ml International), the standard bearer for Irish whiskey.

• Jameson in the U.S. is around $20 a bottle. (Binny’s Chicago/Total Wine Atlanta)
• Jameson in Ireland (Dublin, Galway Killarney) is €24.50 or $30.64 VAT included.

Ouch! That’s about 50% more a bottle of plain old Jameson. It doesn’t get any better when you’re buying up to a bottle of Midleton Very Rare either. Even when you cut out the VAT (about $4) you’re still better off buying U.S. for any bottle of Irish whiskey you kind find here. There is a little relief buying Ireland than the U.K. but it’s still way more than buying stateside.

If you are going to buy Irish whiskey in Ireland and you’re not planning to drink it there my one piece of advice is this…duty free. That does limit you a bit. U.S. travelers are limited to one liter of duty free spirit per traveler when returning to the U.S. However, there are two key things you need to know about that. First, it’s irrespective of age. So if your kids are traveling with you too then you can use their liter allowance too. Second, in a lot of instances the paying duty is actually cheaper than pay VAT in Ireland.

Some of you might wonder about selection. There’s a lot of Irish whiskey in Ireland. You might not even realize how much the selection of Irish whiskey has expanded in recent years until you’re in a shop confronted by all of it. However, as most of these selections are available in the U.S. or online you might want to focus on the few you can’t here. Green Spot, Yellow Spot, Powers John Lane, and Midleton Barry Crocket are a few examples. Also, if you’re visiting distilleries they all tend to have a distillery only bottle that for obvious reasons you can’t get anywhere else. Be warned that the bottle offered at Kilbeggan can also be purchased for a LOT cheaper duty free. 😉 The distillery bottles really are the only “Ireland Only” bottles left out there. Everything else you should be able to get your hands on one way or another.

So if I had to sum it for you I’d say this. First, if you can get it here don’t try to buy it there. Second, the distillery exclusives are worth a look. Third, anything else should be purchased duty free at the airport on your way out. The Loop operates The Irish Whiskey Collection right after departure security in Dublin’s airport. They have everything you can get anywhere else in Ireland except that one bottle of Bushmills and one bottle of Jameson. The Irish Whiskey Collection is also the cheapest place in the Emerald Isle to buy the stuff. They also have a number of private bottlings of Cooley’s various whiskies that you can only get from them.

I hope this helps in your shopping preparation if you’re planning a trip to Ireland. It’s a lovely country with amazing people. You shouldn’t go without making the native spirit part of the fun!

Drink wisely my friends,

Richard

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