Review: Slane Irish Whiskey
Slane Irish Whiskey was released in 2017. The Slane Distillery is housed within the 250 year old horse stables on the Slane Castle estate. This small village is located on the north bank of the river Boyne. A $50 million project launched in 2015 by Brown- Forman to construct their own distillery continues. Currently both the malt and grain whiskey used to produce Slane Irish whiskey are sourced from an undisclosed distillery. The whiskey is aged in virgin, and seasoned casks raised by hand at the Brown-Forman cooperages, and Oloroso sherry casks from Jerez Spain. Brown-Forman produces Jack Daniels and Woodford Reserve, so I have no doubt most of these seasoned first refill barrels once aged those fine whiskeys. Read more 
Review: Concannon Irish Whiskey
Concannon Irish Whiskey was released in 2012. It is a blended Irish whiskey made from soft pure spring water from the mountainside of Slieve na gCloc, and locally harvested spring malted barley. The grain whiskey portion is made from corn. Concannon Irish whiskey is distilled in small long necked copper pot stills. The spirit is first aged for 4 years in bourbon barrels and later aged for four months in barrels previously used to age Concannon Petite Sirah wine. Fourth generation Vintner John Concannon created Concannon Irish whiskey in collaboration with Cooley Distillers, as a special tribute to his great grandfather James Concannon. James sailed from Ireland to America in 1865 when he was 18. In 1874 James and his wife traveled from Maine and settled in the Livermore Valley of California where he founded Concannon Winery in 1883. The bottle I am reviewing was distilled at the Cooley Distillery. Since Beam acquired the distillery and renamed it Kilbeggan Distillery, they reduced the number of brands they produce Irish whiskey for. This resulted in several brands death, since there were so few distilleries producing Irish Whiskey. Concannan Irish Whiskey has survived but I don’t know the current source of their Irish whiskey. Read more
Review: West Cork Bourbon Cask Blended Irish Whiskey
West Cork Bourbon Cask Blended Irish Whiskey is made from a blend of 75% Grain Irish Whiskey and 25% Malt Irish Whiskey that are both aged in first fill bourbon casks. The West Cork Distillery was founded in 2003 by three close friends Denis McCarthy, Ger McCarthy, and John O’Connell in Union Hall West Cork Ireland. The whiskey is triple distilled in copper pot stills. The stills are only half filled in order to allow maximum copper-spirit interaction. Most of the mashing fermentation and distillation equipment was handcrafted on site by the team at West Cork Distillers. Read more
Review: Teeling Small Batch Irish Whiskey
Teeling Small Batch Irish Whiskey is a blended Irish whiskey made from corn/grain and barley/malt whiskey. The whiskey is small batch distilled and aged separately for six years in previously used bourbon barrels. The whiskies are than married in a 3 to 1 ration of grain to malt whiskey for 6-9 months in rum barrels previously used to age Flor de Cana Rum in Nicaragua. The whiskey is bottled at 92 proof with no chill filtration. The Teeling name is one of the oldest and most respected Irish Whiskey family names, with a history dating back to 1782 when Walter Teeling set up a small craft distillery on Marrowbone Lane in the Liberties District of Dublin. In 1987 John Teeling founded the Cooley Distillery converting an old potato alcohol plant into a whiskey distillery. In January 2012 Jim Beam acquired the distillery. In 2015 Jack Teeling the former Director of Cooley along with his brother Stephen, opened the first new distillery in Dublin in over 125 years in the heart of The Golden Triangle. This is the historic distilling district of Dublin and a five iron shot away from the original Teeling Distillery. The grain and malt whiskey currently used to produce Teeling Small Batch Irish Whiskey is sourced from other Irish distilleries, while their own crafted whiskies age in bourbon barrels. Read more