There are some things you never say to an Irish person. As in: potatoes are boring; Guinness is overrated; and U2 hasn't made a good record since Achtung Baby. Here's another: Scotland invented whisky.
Many a Scot will proudly assert the classic record of a certain Friar John Cor of Newburgh in Fife making the first documented purchase of "eight bolls of malt" to produce a grain-based distillate in the 1490s. "Blarney," say the Irish, who can plausibly make the claim that Arabic distillation techniques landed first on the Emerald Isle before crossing the North Channel.
There's hard evidence on their side, too. An excavation in Dublin a few years ago reportedly found tanned reindeer skins containing crude script describing the distillation of grain and water – in other words, the base of what might be called whisky.
First though Ireland may have been to the whisky bar (not that I'm taking sides in this donnybrook), the country's once-powerful industry eventually fell into a state of boiled-potato blandness in the 20th century as American Prohibition sliced into exports and a global preference for more robust Scotch kicked lighter, gentler Irish brands to the sidelines. Jameson and Bushmills were essentially the only brands left standing in a thirsty country that once boasted 2,000 distilleries.
Newly popular around the world, Irish whisky is teeming with innovation and robust, modern flavours that would put a smile in St. Patrick's Irish eyes – or at least a blush on his cheeks – as the following examples illustrate.
Teeling Single Grain Irish Whiskey (Ireland)
SCORE: 93 PRICE: $73.60
Dr. John Teeling, a mining and minerals entrepreneur, has been credited with instigating Irish whisky's renaissance. He founded Cooley Distillery in the dark ages of the 1980s by converting an old potato-schnapps plant in County Louth, turning out such flavour-filled brands as The Tyrconnell and Connemara, which gave dominant Jameson and Bushmills a run for their money. He also embodies an irony rare in his business: Teeling is a teetotal. After selling Cooley to Beam a few years ago, Teeling invested again, and this brand from Dublin is his family's glorious baby. "Single grain" has become a trendy category, one that thumbs its nose at Scotland's single malts. The term refers to whiskies made predominantly of non-malted-barley grains, such as corn and wheat, by a single distillery. (Teeling uses corn here.) But there's another, un-Irish twist here. Medium-weight and crisp, the spirit is matured in used barrels that formerly held California cabernet. It displays a honeyed depth and spicy vigour uncommon to standard Irish fare, with heather, leather, smoke and a rounded fruity essence reminiscent of flambéed bananas. $89.99 in B.C., various prices in Alta., $64.99 in N.B.
The Tyrconnell Single Malt Finished in Port Cask (Ireland)
SCORE: 92 PRICE: $99.95
Matured for 10 years in casks, including a short stay in barrels that once held Portugal's fruity fortified wine, Port, this lovely dram betrays its cellaring regime instantly with a subtly rosy tinge. On the nose it telegraphs dried cereal, which in my book is always a good thing when it comes to whisky. Satisfyingly rounded on the palate, it comes through with notes of red wine, dried fruit, fresh apple and roasted nuts. Almost like drinking port with the cheese course – and a splendid match for just the same.
The Irishman Small Batch Founder's Reserve (Ireland)
SCORE: 89 PRICE: $54.95
Barely 15 years old, the company behind this brand began with something curiously called the Hot Irishman, which oddly is not a reference to Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Liam Neeson or Bono. It's a liqueur designed to whip up an instant Irish coffee by adding boiling water and a floating head of whipped cream. Sometimes weird ideas give way to better ones, which explains the company's evolution into a proper whisky brand. Years later, founders Bernard and Mary Walsh came out with Writers Tears, a superb product I've reviewed before (available in several provinces for about $50). And now this. Made entirely from barley (mostly malted but also some classically Irish unmalted barley from a pot still), it tastes like vanilla, caramel and toasted nuts on breakfast cereal. Breakfast of champions.