TOPIC:

This Irish Whiskey Society event just went up on Boards[/url:xsq0g5md]:

[quote:xsq0g5md]7:30-9:30pm, Thursday, February 25th

Brooks Hotel, Drury Street, Dublin 2

This tasting is an ideal starting point for an exploration of Irish whiskey. We will sample a range of standard Irish whiskeys while learning about the variations in the manufacturing process that make them different. For seasoned whiskey drinkers there is the added challenge of tasting the whiskeys blind. How well do you really know the Irish standards?

Entry is €10 for members, €15 for non-members.

Prebooking here is neccessary[/url:xsq0g5md]
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Looks interesting.

Ah here, a beer tasting on a Thursday is bad enough but whiskey?
Why can't these things be on a night where I do not have to work the next day <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->

Thanks for the info, I love learning about whiskey. Taking a look at the website I've decided to hold out until end of March for the pure pot still night hosted by a distiller from Midleton.

I went along to this and it's probably about time now that I shared my thoughts on it.

It was a great evening with about 40-45 people jammed into a little conference room in the basement of brooks hotel, which I should say is a very nice hotel. The event took the form of a blind tasting of 6 Irish whiskeys and each participant had to guess what each one was from a list of 8.

While each whiskey was being sampled, mini presentations on the history and processes and types of whiskey were given by one of the organisers, and each segment was finished with a discussion on the whiskey in the glass at the time. Participants were encouraged to describe what they smelt and tasted and what they saw, with the organisers gently suggesting the notes that they were picking up in the whiskey.

Once the discussions were over, it was time to show your knowlsedge, or ignorance in my case, in what I can only describe as under-educated guess work. I got 2 out of the 6 right, which i'm happy enough with, so don't ruin it by analysing the odds of randomly picking 2 out of 6 right anyway!

There was also a pick your favourite, which for me and about 11-12 others was Power's. It was the most popular choice at our tasting and at the previous irish whiskey tasting, so I must buy some for once instead of glossing over it without thought.

The evening finished with a taste of Midleton, but it too was tasted blind before being revealed. Blind, I wouldn't have put it down as a very expensive whiskey, and was shocked when it was revealed. It goes to show that perception plays a large part in taste.

It was a great evening overall and good fun. I'll definitely be along to the next one.

Go Power's! A massively underrated whiskey, IMO. I've never got the hang of serial blind-tasting spirits, though. My palate always just dies after the first one. Thanks for the report, TST.

Yeah I think Whiskey is a little strong to be blind tasting. It tends to burn my taste buds so I would find it hart to tell them apart.

One thing though, Middleton is very very smooth, it is less harsh than the other blended whiskies so in a blind tasting it it would not stand out, it would be very muted actually. At least in my opinion.