Celtic tiger
Dublin’s Celtic Whiskey Shop is driving an interest in Irish whiskeys but Scotch is benefiting too. Iorweth Griffiths reports
I’m in the heart of Georgian Dublin and I can see plenty of wine but no whisky – am I really in Dublin’s Celtic Whiskey Shop? I step outside to double check. Yes, I’m in the right place.
The Celtic Whiskey Shop is actually two shops in one with a connecting passage – with the whisky taking up one side. It may be an Irish twist that on entering a whisky shop all you see is wine, but a swift left turn leads to the whiskies. Within a fairly intimate space there are shelves containing a comprehensive collection of Irish whiskey, together with a good range of Scottish single malts as well as American and Japanese whiskies.
In the centre of the room is the tasting table which always features Connemara and Redbreast 12 year old – representing the opposite ends of the Irish whiskey spectrum.
Athird Irish whiskey is also made available for tasting, occasionally joined by a Scottish single malt.
On my visit, the third whiskey was Cooley’s newly launched limited edition Greenore eight year old single grain, nice and airy with vanilla notes and mellow grain spiciness.
Opened in June 2003, the Celtic Whiskey Shop is the brainchild of Scotsman Ally Alpine who has more than 20 years experience in the drinks trade. Ally says he was always curious as to why Scotland had so many specialist whisky shops while Ireland had none and he was convinced there was a market for such a shop in Dublin – the Celtic Whiskey Shop was born.
It is currently the only specialist whisky shop.....
To read the rest of this article you can buy this issue
or subscribe to Whisky Magazine to have every issue delivered direct to your door.
You can unlock and read this entire article with 1 of your community tokens by clicking here.
By Iorweth Griffiths
Section : Whisky Spotlight
Page number : 54
