...a writer's place for inspiration, romance, and music
On whiskey. It's not for everyone. I didn't appreciate it when I was younger, that's for sure. All I tasted was the alcohol. However, my husband educated me on scotch and I learned to love it. As for the Irish stuff, here's a lesson.
1. Connemara- the only single malt peated Irish whiskey I have tried. If you like scotch, you will love it. It's got the Irish blood sweat and tears combined with the smokiness of the peat that you usually see in Scottish whiskey. 2. Jameson-can you hear the angels singing? Probably the most well known, and for a reason. You don't have to spend a lot to get into a good bottle, but the more you spend the better it will get. Nicknamed The Catholic, originally distilled in Dublin and you can tour the distillery. The Black Barrel is lovely. All of the Special Reserve and Gold Labels are, but the standard bottle of regular Jameson is a really feckin good start. 3. Bushmills -located in Northern Ireland. Also comes in higher end varieties, but the Black is extra special to me, as I conceived my son after the partaking. Given I was 38 and my husband 45, it wasn't planned. Being Irish, we celebrated and piled little George onto the ever growing number of kids we'd acquired! I broke the news to him by taping the pregnancy test to a new bottle. Bushmills being the counterpart to Jameson, is nicknamed The Protestant. 4.Tullamore Dew-I didn't try this until my husband bought it at the duty free in Shannon Airport after one of his deployments. Ireland is kind enough to let our planes refuel in and out of theater so my husband has been to Shannon Airport about a gajillion times. It's tasty, it's reasonably priced, smooth, and the pottery jug is fun.
On beer.
1.Harp Lager- easy enough to get in the states, tasty, not overly complex. If you don't go for the dark beers, it's a good choice. 2. Creans Lager-I have yet to find this in the states. The west coast towns in Ireland had this readily on tap and it was amazing. If you aren't quite ready for a dark and broody or a whiskey, it is perfect with food. 3. Smithwick's-for the amber lovers. 4.Guinness- people love it or hate it. I love a good dark beer. It's leaps and bounds better out of the tap. Just trust me. Brewed in Dublin, sold feckin everywhere. No, they don't serve it warm. No. Shut up.
A bit of the sweet... According to the young and randy O'Brien brother Liam, Bailey's is for breakfast and for pussies. Well, that may be, but it's awfully nice in my coffee with an additional dash of Jameson and good to bake with! On cider? Well, Bulmers on tap was absolutely the best shite I've ever tasted in the cider world. Pretty amber colored cider. Best on tap. That said, you are probably sad that you can't get it in the states. Well, you can. They call it Magners, but it's the same cider. Apparently some marketing plonker decided that Americans would like the Magners name better (maybe it's a size thing?) In their defense, Bulmers sounds like a hemorrhoid cream and Magners sounds like an extra large condom. So, there you are. Same stuff and down right tasty.