The Great Irish Whiskey Resurgence and 13 Noteworthy Bottles to Savor
Editor’s note: Irish whiskey is not just for St. Patrick’s Day. The relatively recent resurgence is worthy of a closer look and of celebrating year-round.
“One by one they were all becoming shades. Better pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some passion, than fade and wither dismally with age,” wrote James Joyce in The Dead. And really, that seemed the fate of Irish whiskey, who by the 1980s was fading quite dismally indeed, not even able to make 1% of the global sales of the whiskey category. Ten short years ago even, Irish whiskey category in the U.S. was a drop in the glass, not even hitting the half-million mark for 9 liter cases sold. In 2021, that number sprang to nearly 6 million, according to research from the Distilled Spirits Council. And while that’s still half of what it sold at its height in the late nineteenth century, what’s happening now is, if not a renaissance, an intensely inspired comeback.
A large part of that growth can be credited to the creation of new, and the resurrection of old, Irish whiskey brands and distilleries, bringing the count to somewhere around 40 now. But you have to read carefully—they aren’t all being distilled by their creators. Many, actually, are purchasing and blending their whiskey stocks from other established Irish distilleries. And that’s fine—there’s nothing wrong with that. But, like many spirits brands, the story spin can sometimes cloak the technical details. Still, there are a multitude of labels and expressions, from super traditional to some not-so-very traditional (and, truthfully, kind of impossible to pick out as Irish at all, if you’re looking for the trademark softness of pot-still origins), and some that are downright experimental. Here, more than a dozen recent releases to say Slainte! with.
Limavady Single Malt Irish Whiskey $49.99, 46% abv.
Darryl McNally’s long career in Irish whiskey has certainly set him up to know a thing or two about what’s quintessentially delicious in the category, with 17 years at Bushmills and now as master distiller for the recently opened Dublin Liberties Distillery. Limavady, though, appears to be his passion project. The name dates back to a circa 1750 distillery where, he says, ancestors of his once worked on this small but storied brand. He’s rebuilding a distillery in the eponymous town but, until then, sourcing 100% malted Irish barley single barrel, single malt Irish whiskeys for the launch, which kicked off last summer, with WhistlePig an investor in the project, and the handler of bottling and distribution. If this early incarnation is any hint at what’s to come, the Limavady name will never go dark again. Aged in ex-bourbon and PX sherry butts, it smells of raspberries, pear, and candied orange, with a gorgeous butter-cookie sweetness and just-right spiciness on the finish. My only quibble: The glass bottle closure is entirely impractical—difficult to open, and difficult to close (but worth the efforts, nonetheless!).
Sexton Single Malt, $27.99, 40% abv.
While there’s still more doors to be kicked down in the male-dominated Irish whiskey world women distillers and blenders aren’t complete unicorns in this space anymore, and slainte to that. Alex Thomas is the blender at the helm of The Sexton, and her background in the timber industry and subsequent years working at Bushmill’s seem to have set her up well for her current position. The Sexton is owned by Proximo Spirits, who own Bushmills, and distilled in Country Atrim, so if we’re connecting the dots here, the blended 100% malted barley spirits here are likely an easy trace. The blend is aged 4 years in oloroso sherry casks, and it offers rich aromas and flavors of dried fruit and milk chocolate, with a nice touch of woody spiciness on the finish. Sexton was a Silver winner at the NY International Spirits Competition in 2021.
Keeper’s Heart, $31.99, 43% abv.
There are some that will say that this is not Irish whiskey. And, well, technically, it’s not. Right on the bottle it proclaims: “Whiskey Irish + American.” Some of the grain and malted barley spirit inside is made at the contract-distilling operation Great Northern Distilling in Dundalk, County Louth, which John Teeling (yes, that Teeling in whiskey-dom) opened in 2015, and the rest of the blend, which is rye, comes from MGP’s Indiana outpost, at least until cousins Patrick and Michael O’Shaunnessy, and their MD, Brian Nation (he of Jameson distilling fame) can get their own Minnesota-based, 30,000 square foot distillery up and running. Nation collaborated with High West founder David Perkins on the initial spirit, and it presents as the hybrid it is. Citrusy and spicy, with a vanilla-cake sweetness and a growing hella woody finish.
Roe & Company, $34.99, 45% abv.
This non-chill filtered entry into the category was launched in 2017 (and is owned by Diageo), and hit the U.S. in 2019, and is made in the converted Guinness Power House in Dublin, an area once rife with distilleries during Ireland’s golden age of whiskey in the 19th century, and takes its brand name from the former George Roe & Co. Distillery. From here, the concept gets a little muddy. The whiskey is crafted by master blender Caroline Martin (see the Busker below) and distiller Lora Hemy, but began as a bartender project to seek the most bar-friendly malts to create a bar-friendly Irish whiskey (but what Irish whiskey isn’t bar friendly?). The resulting spirit currently consists of over 100 malted barley and grain whiskeys, blended by Martin. The future spirit, presumably, will be distilled by Hemy. But then, that seems like a very different product. At any rate, the current offering on the market has a soft, confectionary, nougat-y nose, and follows through with a pleasant sweetness on the palate that grows in spicy, grainy woody notes. It’s straight-forward and while perfectly lovely on its own, there’s no reason not to mess with it in a cocktail.
Lost Irish, $40, 40% abv.
The name is as romantic as a Yeats poem, and the idea behind it full of windswept yearning, too (or just super clever marketing—you pick). Either way, it’s a clever and intricate concept. Famine and poverty, seafaring adventure, missionary work, or military excursions, the Irish people found their way to a multitude of different places around the world for a multitude of reasons. This whiskey pays tribute to the Irish diaspora, with the spirit made at contract-distillery, Great Northern Distillers, in both pot and column still using grain and malted barley, and then aged in (this is the diapora part) casks from six regions ‘round the world: South African brandy casks, Japanese Mizunara oak, European sherry butts, North American ex-bourbon and Caribbean rum barrels, Australian tawny port cask, and Colombian rum casks. With all that in mind, it doesn’t exactly present like an Irish whiskey—fruity sweetness, sure, but it comes off more linear than round, and the wood-spiciness on the finish can be a little overwhelming. Still, it's a fun reasonably priced gift for the whiskey pal who has everything and likes a good story.
McConnell’s Irish Whisky, $32.99 42% abv
You have to think that Great Northern Distillery took a long, good look at MGP’s success with American whiskey and said, you know, there’s a good idea. Starting a distillery is an expensive, time-consuming prospect to say the least—with so much interest in Irish whiskey, why not start a contract distillery to feed all these new and relaunched small brands? McConnell falls into the latter category (and one that spells whisky without the “e”), as a name established in Belfast in 1776, but which died like so many of its brethren, although McConnell seems to have given up the ghost during that sad strangler of spirits, American Prohibition. They are indeed building a distillery in Belfast, but GND has their business while that’s getting off the ground. This combo of pot-still malted barley and column distilled corn gets aged 5 years in ex-bourbon barrels and has lovely aromas of sugar cookies and candied ginger. In your mouth, it’s grainy and spicy on your tongue, with a slightly smoky, tea-like finish, that nicely complements a little ginger ale and ice.
Proper Twelve Irish Whiskey, $27.99, 40% abv.
You know Ireland has gotten all modern when a celebrity launches his own whiskey. In this case, Proper No. Twelve is the brand dreamed up by mixed martial art champion, Conor McGregor, and named after the postal district in which he grew up in Dublin. A blend of grain and malted barley sourced in all likelihood from the Bushmills Distillery, it may well be Ireland’s first “lifestyle” brand. It isn’t the most memorable of drams, and although it claims to be aged at least three years, it comes off lighter than that, with its barely-there fruit flavors, short finish and wobble between fruit and wood. It makes a fun curiosity bottle for your sporting fan friends, and better for mixing than sipping neat, and if you like your whiskey on the rocks, that cold, watering down will drown the already subtle, young flavors here.
Slane Special Edition Irish Whiskey, $30, 45% abv.
This Brown-Forman brand created by Alex Conyngham and housed on his family’s historic estate in County Meath (complete with a castle), now has its distillery up and running inside the family’s 230-year-old horse stable (renovated, of course) with distiller Dr. Gearóid Cahill at the helm. The grain and malt base is aged in new American oak, seasoned Tennessee whiskey barrels (with the parent company, you can draw your own conclusions on the source there), and oloroso sherry barrels. It’s an excellent choice for those who think they don’t like traditional Irish whiskey, as it absolutely has an American cousin influence on its rich notes of vanilla, toffee, and dried fruit.
Clonakilty Double Oak Irish Whiskey, $46.50, 46.3% abv
Launched in 2018 in County Cork, Clonakilty’s seaside distillery is owned by the Scully family, farmers in the area for a multitude of generations, and are old-school where it counts. The spirits here—in this case, a blend of malt and grain--are pot distilled in a thoroughly modern $10 million dollar facility, as overseen by MD Paul Corbett (although the current Double Oak release is sourced as they get up to speed).. The barrel choice is unusual—ex-bourbon (that’s not the unsual part) and new American oak make up one part of the double casking, the other being French oak barrels that once held Bordeaux, and have been shaved, toasted, and re-charred. The resulting whiskey has that telltale softness in texture and flavor—all melted butter, vanilla bean, and apples – but offers a pleasant robust, well-integrated, woody graininess on the palate that comes off more like walnut skin then too much wood. It’s certainly is more reminiscent of Scotch, and yet not out of place here. The finish is long and tight, a little lip-smacking, and makes you thirsty for more.
Busker Irish Whiskey, $24.99, 40% abv.
Taking a cue like so many of these new entries from the Scottish cask-finishing tradition, the Busker uses ex-bourbon, sherry, and Marsala casks to create this thoroughly lovely entry into the new-fangled Irish whiskey category. It’s made at the Royal Oak Distillery in County Carlow (formerly Walsh Distillery, which used to be responsible for every journalist’s favorite name for a whiskey, Writer’s Tears, among others) via both pot and column still, and a combination of single malt, single grain, single pot still, and blended whiskeys, and it’s aged in ex bourbon, sherry, and Marsala casks. The Busker—its name a nod to Irish street singers—was released in 2020, and when you see other producers turning their whiskeys inside-out in an attempt to differentiate and modernize (and jack up the cost), it’s hard not to have your head turned by this pocket-friendly whiskey with its pretty notes of citrus, nougat, candied almonds, and soft and sweet manner it hits your palate and lingers there. Carline Martin—blender for Roe & Co.—is the talent behind this one, too. Busker was Single Malt Irish Whiskey of the Year winner at the NY International Spirits Competition in 2021.
Waterford Irish Single Malt Whiskey Luna 1.1, $125, 50% abv.
It’s kind of surprising no one in Ireland until now has gotten in on the field-to-dram movement, with this country’s rich farming history and fertile fields of grain. But with his background in the wine industry, Mark Reynier saw an opportunity in a defunct Guinness Brewery in Waterford that he scooped from Diageo. Reynier (also the brains behind exhuming the Bruichladdich label in Scotland) is an interesting character – he’s as much about sense of place as he isn’t. The Brit was quoted in the Irish Times when he launched Waterford in February 2020 saying, “What we’re producing is single-malt whiskey that happens to be made in Ireland”—but clearly with these farmer-focused, biodynamically farmed bottlings, Irish, sea-sprayed terroir is unquestionably key. Barley growers names are listed on the back of each bottle and they are Demeter certified, as well as certified organic, and there’s a unique number on the back of each bottle. Go to their website and click on the “tEIREoir” tab (clever, right?!), type in the number, and you’ll learn all kinds of things about the farmer at the source. This latest release, Luna 1.1, is a 21,000 bottle release and part of the Arcadian Series, combining the barley from three growers and aging the resulting spirit in a dialed in combo of 35% first fill American oak, 17% new American oak, 26% new French oak, and the final 22% in barrels used to age France’s fab fortified dessert wine, Vin Doux Naturel. Pale and golden in color, it teases your nose with gentle, soft aromatics of barely ripe apricots, yellow cherries, citrus zest, and wet earth, and hits your palate with a surprising burst of spiciness, sponge cake, bits of salty cocoa, hazelnut skin, and a snappy dryness that may make your dram disappear all too quickly.
Grace O’Malley, $36.99, 40% abv
Another product of the very busy Great Northern Distillery, this blend of grain and malt whiskeys sees time in used French and American oak, as well as rum casks, lingering for a minimum of three years, and max of ten, overseen by blender Paul Caris, whose background as both an oenologist and with a cooperage, presents a unique and awfully good skill-set for taking spirit and massaging its myriad parts into one lovely whiskey. The nose is full of caramel, dried, sugary dates, and milk chocolate, clueing you into how rich and confectionary it presents itself on your tongue, with a plush texture and flavors of orange-cocoa cake, nutmeg, dried fruit. Grace O’Malley was a Silver winner at the NY International Spirits Competition in 2021.
J.J. Corry “The Gael” Irish Whiskey, $80, 46% abv
Named for a nineteenth century Irish store merchant who sourced and aged his own whiskey to sell in his shop in Western Ireland, an act known as bonding—which is what a lot of new labels are engaging in today in order to get their product to market. Still, the Corry story is a good one, especially as this particular release is named after the bicycle he invented and dubbed “The Gael.” Owner and founder Louise McGuane grew up on a farm in Cooraclare in western Ireland, but set out to find her own fortune in the beverage industry. The pull of her family’s land drew her back in 2015 but instead of plowing fields she took a cue from Corry, built a rackhouse, learned the art of whiskey bonding, and founded the Chapel Gate Irish Whiskey Co. “The Gael” is a blend of grain whiskey that marries four and ten-year-old expressions, all aged in ex-bourbon casks. The result is an alluringly sweet, tropical gem—dried mango, melty, toasted marshmallow, peach juice, and a spritz of white pepper that grows on the finish.