Green Spot Irish Whiskey or ?

[hoser]

Newbie just getting started with Irish Whiskey (usually a scotch drinker) and looking for suggestions. Seems like Green Spot has a "cult" following of some sort. Any opinions of this one?

Redbreast 15 also seems to get a lot of recommendations but I'm looking for any and all feedback. Thanks.

[hoser]

I like peaty Islay scotches. I read a couple of reviews on Midleton Very Rare and both stated a strong "peach" or "fruit" fragrance. Should I stay away from this, even though it does have great reviews?

[Aidan]

Green Spot is still good. It used to be a pure pot still like the Redbreast, but I believe it's now a blend.

I still like it.

I think the Redbreast is much better.

Neither are peaty. They're a different experience. Might take a bit of getting used to.

Cooley do peated irish single malt. I believe it's very good stuff. Some of the Cadenhead bottlings of peated Cooley is really excellent.

[hoser]

Well, I'm not looking to find something peaty. I've never even tried Irish Whiskey until I was smoking a stogie in HI and the only thing my aunt had was regular Jameson someone left at her house. I thought it was a pleasant change, so now I'm looking for a really highly recommended one!

[Willie JJ]

Greenspot and Redbreast are both good and very affordable. The Midleton is much more expensive so I would try the others first. Redbreast 12yo can be found in UK supermarkets for £25.

[hoser]

Much difference between Redbreast 12 and the 15 year old?

[cathach]

A very great difference I think you'll find especially as it is one of only two or three whiskies from I.D.L. (the company that make Midleton, Powers, Jameson, Paddy, Redbreast, Greenspot, Dunphy's) that is not chill-filtered and is bottled at 46%. Sadly that distinctiveness is reflected in the price. RRP is E120 in Ireland.

Waitrose used to have Redbreast 12yo at £20 on offer, also try Sainsburys or Asda/Tesco. I can't recommend that whiskey enough, but be warned unpeated Pure Pot Still packs a punch to the tastebuds! Its an oily spicy dram.

Greenspot is a rarity in the UK and is c.£35ish, which is pretty expensive for an unaged blend.
Also pick up or try a Black Bush in a bar, really gorgeous complex stuff and a steal at £18ish in the UK (E29 here in Ireland- )

[desouza]

Forget the Green Spot. They were supposedly shutting down a few years ago. I like Redbreast 15yr old. It is exceedingly affordable, has a large enough production and an excellent taste with a l-o-nn-g finish!
It is NOT peaty but exudes a robust, rich, malty flavor.

[Willie JJ]

Does anyone know where the Redbreast 15 can be sourced these days? It certainly is a lot better than the 12 if you can find it.

[scotchdrinker]

Willie,

In my searches I found the 15yo in:
The Czech Republic
Spain
Ireland
Belgium

That is it in the whole world from what I could find.

[irishwhiskeychaser]

The Redbreast 15yo is now an endangered species and will only be found either at inflated prices or sitting on a shelf gathering dust

If you are struggling to find the above whiskies I'll suggest a few more.

Jameson 12yo a wonderfully rich Irish Blend (With that potstill charachter)

Blackbush a Blend 70%+ malt. Good decent amount of sherrried malt. Think Auchentoshan 3 wood but more sherry

Tyrconnell or Tyrconnell Maderia a lovely lightish single malt with plenty fruit (pear mainly & apple) Maderia will be even fruitier

Midleton is quite sweet and smooth and is very expensive for what you get in my opinion. Basically an easy drinker ... not very challenging.

[Leonidych]

I have some 15+ years of experience with Irish whiskies, and I can tell you what. My favorite is Redbreast 12 (15 is rather unstable). The Midleton Very Rare is a subtle old liquid daintly boxed for a present, not for a drink. Tyrconnel 10 used to be a nice guy with a fresh finish (celery!), now it's not. Paddy is an excellent booze, not a drink, if you know what I mean. Power's would be just sweet enough to intrigue a lady inexperienced with whiskies. The Bushmill's range is brutal, with its Blackbush and the Rum Finish to pleasantly stand out. Clontarf appears to be a private experiment, strange and of little importance (except for the Gold label, or whatever they call it). Murphy's can be sometimes taken for an XO cognac, tres bien. The peated Connemara (as any other smoky Irish) is interesting but incomparable by its balance to the peaty Scotch brothers. I would recommend to avoid the industrial stuff like Tullamore Dew and standard Jameson (here I disagree with JM!). Kilbeggan, Inishowen, Knapoggue Castle, Locke's, Millar's and other brands are too irreproducible to talk about..

The Green Spot is distinctively special by its unique ability to be... different. Yes, it is different every time you taste it! It can be mellow, zingy, flowery, fruity, bright, neutral, spicy or even smoky - depending on the season, weather, time of day, day of week and your mood. What is especially good, its bouquet is always complimentary. If you hesitant in choosing the drum late at night, try the Green Spot, and it will make the day. The must in any whisk(e)y library!

[Aidan]

I wouldn't agree with much of that, really.

Midleton is excellent, but not worth the money, in my opinion. In fact, Paul Pacult has it down as the second best spirit in the world. I can think of a lot better, but it does show it's respected by those in the know.

Personally, I'm not a huge Bushmills fan.

I think it is amazing that we have one distillery making peated and double distilled whiskey and it's so good. Cooley make fantastic stuff. Easily comparible to similar scotches.

Jameson is grand, but nothing special. Powers is wonderful.

These are just my opinions, of course.

[cathach]

I like Redbreast 15yr old. It is exceedingly affordable, has a large enough production and an excellent taste with a l-o-nn-g finish!
It is NOT peaty but exudes a robust, rich, malty flavor.

Good Lord Desouza,

Can you let us know more about where these stocks of affordable Redbreast 15 are? I am positively agog!! Alas there is damn all of it in Ireland.

[hoser]

Someone whom I tend to trust recommended Connemara or Knappouge. Thoughts?

[Aidan]

The Knappogues are all very different.

I'd recommend the Connemaras. They're pretty good, in my opinion. The cask strength might be the best of them. The 12 is good, but a little disappointing.

There are some single cask Connemaras that are really very good. If you can get your hands on one of these, it would be worth it.

[The Third Dram]

I'd recommend the Connemaras... The cask strength might be the best of them.

One of the most individualistic, eye-opening single malts I've come across. Be bold. Sip it neat.

[hoser]

Is the Connemara "Cask Strength" and "Single Cask" the same thing? Are they hard to find?

[cathach]

The Connemara cask strength is bottled at 56%-60% depending on batch and has no age statement, although it is believed to be around 8yo.

The single casks are OBs selected by Noel Sweeney, and have an age statement (most are around 16yo at this stage), these are non-chillfiltered and bottled at 46%.

Both are widely available in the UK and the USA, can you let us know where you are based? If you send me a PM I could send you a few llinks or pointers.

[hoser]

Which of the two are more desirable?

[cathach]

Which of the two are more desirable?

How long is a piece of string??? It all depends on your own tastes really, I love both of them on their own merits.
Cooley (the makers of Connemara) make really excellent malt with a fullbodied distillery character and straight bourbon maturation, so it all depends on your own tastes. For instance I myself prefer the subleties and layered complexities of one of the single cask Connemaras I have to the Ardbeg Airigh nam Beist for instance.

[hoser]

I have a local shop here that have these Bushmills 16, Jameson 1780 & Tullamore Dew Crock ranked pretty high -- 1, 2 and 3.

It has the Jameson 1780 rated higher than the Jameson 18 Master Selection and Redbreast 12.

Thoughts on these (since I can get these local for sure)? I know this thread is getting long, but I REALLY appreciate all the help and feedback and opinions!

[cathach]

No problem hoser, all the questions are great

When it comes to deciding between whiskies, again it can all depend on your wallet. If your store has the Jameson 1780 (a.k.a. 12yo) on offer then go for it, I'd say. If the Redbreast 12yo is at or near the same price as the Jameson I would get that instead. The Redbreast is the quintessential Irish whiskey of the past (and hopeful future). Its a pure pot still and is a single or unblended product.

Can you give us an idea of how much these are your store and we could point you maybe to a better deal?

[irishwhiskeychaser]

Jameson 1780 (Jameson 12yo) is a great value for money and that is one of the reasons that I would also put it over the 18yo but the 18yo is not bad either and I think it is slightly variable from batch to batch. I'd possibly say to you go for the Jameson 1780 over the Redbreast 12yo also as the Jameson is more rounded also. The Redbreast can have more flavour profiles but may not be everybody's cup of tea first time off if they are not used to the potstill style which you will get a nice bit of in the Jameson but much more drinkable.


Knappogue & Connemara are also great. Connemara is a great peated dram for those who don't want to be assaulted by peak reak

[hoser]

These are all available locally to me:
Jameson 12
Redbreast 12
Knappogue
Connemara

[cathach]

$????
Personally I'd go for the Redbreast but not if its twice the price of all the others. It has a robust flavour that may appeal to you if you're into Islay. But again unless you can taste in a bar, or at the shop, its always a gamble.

[hoser]

The first Irish I had was Jameson (regular, not 12) that my aunt's husband had around the house. They didn't have scotch so I had that with my cigar. It was kind of sweet, but good and different than my Islay scotches.

I'm really not looking to find a replacement for scotch, but just something different. Maybe the Jameson 12 wouldn't be bad since I didn't mind the regular?

[irishwhiskeychaser]

I'd go for the Jemmie 12 so

It is much richer than the nas and may come across even slightly viscous. Loads of sherry character on the nose with the associated rich sweet taste.

As an Islay fan you should try the Connemara Cask strength at some stage too. This would be an interesting experiment ... it does have plenty of peat but no real iodine influence and have the Tyrconnell sweet pear/apple so even though peated quite different from what you'd be used to.

Enjoy no matter what you choose

[Aidan]

These are all available locally to me:
Jameson 12
Redbreast 12
Knappogue
Connemara

The Knappogue castle 1995 just won the FDR Award at the New York Spirits Competition - http://www.tmrzoo.com/?p=2740

[hoser]

Is the Knappogue castle 1995 more like the Redbreast 12 and Connemara Single than the Jameson 12?

[Aidan]

Not really any of those things. It's a Bushmills. So it's a single malt, triple distilled. a light enough malt. I have not tried it, to be honest.

[Gearóidmuar]

I've never tasted a better whiskey than Green Spot. I can get it easily here in Cork. I prefer it to Redbreast, of which I've drunk at least 10 bottles, so it's a soundly based opinion!
Recently in Scotland I tried Scapa on a recommendation and I thought it wonderful. Other drams, new to me were no better than the numerous ones I've drunk in the past.

[desouza]

I like Redbreast 15yr old. It is exceedingly affordable, has a large enough production and an excellent taste with a l-o-nn-g finish!
It is NOT peaty but exudes a robust, rich, malty flavor.

Good Lord Desouza,

Can you let us know more about where these stocks of affordable Redbreast 15 are? I am positively agog!! Alas there is damn all of it in Ireland.

Mr Cathach Sir,

I picked up a bottle in 2006 at Gatwick Airport,UK for the equivalent of
$ 50.00
In retropect, I probably got one of the last few bottles before the price hike or its disappearance!

Cheers,

Derek

[Pure Pot Head]

Both Green Spot and Redbreast are made by the same chaps at Jameson in Midleton Ireland. Both are Pure Pot stills that have no grain whiskey component. They are both very much of an older more traditional style of Irish Whiskey making. Definitely not blended. Jameson has Pure Pot Still and grain whiskey married together but it is all made in the one distilery and is not blended with whiskey from any other source. Tullamore Dew is a brand without a distillery (the original wnet bust in 1954). Jameson have to make that as well. It's a light grainy whiskey best used for Irish Coffee, not much else.
Some serious stuff higher up the scale in Jameson Gold and 18yr old. And if you can afford it (which I can't but luckily I've had some is the Jameson Rarest Vintage Reserve.
Powers has an even higher content of Pot Still than Jameson and to most peoples palate (a previous contributor notwithstanding) is the slightly more robust whiskey.

[cathach]

Mr Cathach Sir,

I picked up a bottle in 2006 at Gatwick Airport,UK for the equivalent of
$ 50.00
In retrospect, I probably got one of the last few bottles before the price hike or its disappearance!

Cheers,

Derek

Definitely a fierce stroke of luck! Are you a fan of Irish whiskey or Pure Pot Still whiskey because of the Redbreast 15yo or had you an interest previously??