Old comber and coleraine whiskey

Related whiskies : Coleraine

by **corbuso** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 10:25 pm

Hello,
I am looking for tasting notes of theses two whiskeys? Has anyone had the chance to try any of them?

by **JCSkinner** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 6:28 pm

I take it you mean Coleraine whiskey from the now defunct Coleraine distillery rather than the cheap and cheerful young blend Bushmills make with that name?
There was an aged bottling some years ago and those bottles are now going for silly money. I've never had the pleasure sadly.
I do have a couple of bottles of Old Comber, and my Dad has one open (he's from Comber!) It's got a splendid nose, very rich, spicey but not in a potstill way, more sweet spice like cinnamon, plenty of wood on the nose but not overpowering as I recall. There was a lot in it.
On the palate it was less impressive. Others reckon it was too long in the wood at 33 or so years. I'm not so sure about that. There's a lot of wood on the palate for sure but chacun a son gout as they say. I thought it wasn't overpowering and there are definite layers of spice, ground black pepper, some leather, even a bourbon vanilla element.
It's quite a while since I did get to taste it, but I have to say that my recollection is that I loved it. But it's probably not for everyone, and the bottles are proving hard to find at this point, having retailed in the mid-Eighties.
I know of at least one Dublin bar where a nip can be had, though, if it was definitely something you wanted to try. But at the price you'd likely pay for a bottle, you could pick up five or six top notch Irish whiskeys.
Hope this helps.

by **Aidan** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 9:03 pm

Yeah, the Coleraine 30 yr old, I think it is. Huge money now.

I also have an Old Comber 7 year old. It's lovely. Not a great one for tasting notes but I'll have a nip over the next few days and report back.

I also have a couple of bottles of the Old Comber 30. One of them is gone kind of cloudy. Is cloudy whiskey salvageable?

by **corbuso** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 10:53 pm

JCSkinner wrote:I take it you mean Coleraine whiskey from the now defunct Coleraine distillery rather than the cheap and cheerful young blend Bushmills make with that name?
I know of at least one Dublin bar where a nip can be had, though, if it was definitely something you wanted to try. But at the price you'd likely pay for a bottle, you could pick up five or six top notch Irish whiskeys.
Hope this helps.

Indeed, I meant the old Coleraine distillery and thank you for your comment. I have now ordered a bottle of the 30 YO Old comber, while it is still available (although not cheap. The temptation of tasting some old Irish whiskey after having read B. Townsend book was too tempting.
For the bar, I have seen on the web that one bar was selling the nip for £75 !

Any recommendation for an old Irish Whiskey? I have tasted a few recent Irish whiskeys (Knappogue, connemara, Redbreast) but I have the impression that the old Irish whiskey had a different flavour profile? Is it correct?

by **Aidan** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 12:10 am

Older Irish whiskey is quite different, in my opinion.

I don't know how much money you have to spend, but if you can get your hands on the Knappogue Castle 1951, it's well worth a try. Even if you pick bottles of Jameson 1780 from the 1980s you get the tast of the older style Irish whiskey. It's quite distinctive.

The aged Irish whiskeys from this period are huge money, though.

I don't think the Old Comber 30 is supposed to be great, especially with what you have to pay for it these days.

The Midleton 25 from the year 2000 is fantastic, too. Originally selling for IR£300, it's now going for over 1,000 euro.

Maybe the best value, but still very expensive, is the Dungourney 1964, which goes for between 400 and 500 euro. It will be going up to 1,000 euro soon, I believe. It's not as good as the Midletons from that period, though, in my opinion.

by **corbuso** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 12:09 pm

Aidan wrote:Older Irish whiskey is quite different, in my opinion.
Even if you pick bottles of Jameson 1780 from the 1980s you get the tast of the older style Irish whiskey. It's quite distinctive.

The aged Irish whiskeys from this period are huge money, though.

I don't think the Old Comber 30 is supposed to be great, especially with what you have to pay for it these days.

The Midleton 25 from the year 2000 is fantastic, too. Originally selling for IR£300, it's now going for over 1,000 euro.

Maybe the best value, but still very expensive, is the Dungourney 1964, which goes for between 400 and 500 euro. It will be going up to 1,000 euro soon, I believe. It's not as good as the Midletons from that period, though, in my opinion.

Thank you for your comments. The only old whiskey I tried so far was the Power's . I will have a lookt at the Dungourney 1964 and I think that I can still find the Midleton 25 at its original price. Outside UK and Ireland, the old Irish whiskey are not so sought after...
Thank you for your tip

Corbuso

by **KenBeau** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 4:26 am

Aidan wrote:Older Irish whiskey is quite different, in my opinion.

I don't know how much money you have to spend, but if you can get your hands on the Knappogue Castle 1951, it's well worth a try. Even if you pick bottles of Jameson 1780 from the 1980s you get the tast of the older style Irish whiskey. It's quite distinctive.

The aged Irish whiskeys from this period are huge money, though.

I took the opportunity, when it presented itself, to try just that very thing when in Las Vegas 2 years ago.

VERY nice and BIG whisky, as I recall. The 9 Fine Irishmen at the New York, New York listed it on their whisky menu (misspelled it as Knappague though!).