Irish American 10

This past year (2018) I had lots and lots of plans. Finish my accounting schooling, find a new job in a new career space, learn 1990s dance moves, and review enough Irish Whiskey to finally hit 100 total reviews.

I’m happy to say I got most of that done, and my wife hasn’t gotten sick of my breaking into Hammer Time. As for posting them, I may have gotten behind what with learning derivatives and trying to figure out that The Carlton. So I’m posting them now! Yay!

If you’ve ever been to the US, you’ll know of Irish Americans. For a multitude of reasons, a myriad of which should make your skin crawl, Irish people emigrated to the US… where they were treated poorly as well. It’s a source of pride now to hold onto your Irish heritage, rather than dropping it as many do around the world (taking on their nationality instead and focusing less on their ethnicity, with some obvious exceptions applying). Your parents were treated poorly, your grandparents were told they couldn’t have certain jobs, you should hold your head high in defiance of it.

Thus it comes as no surprise that Irish American 10 exists. I spoke about the idea of Irish people moving from Ireland in my Wild Geese review. This one never left Ireland. It’s a single malt whiskey (not single pot still as I sometimes make the mistake of mixing up), aged for 10 years in first fill ex-bourbon casks.

So there you have it. A name that gives a nod to the connection between Ireland and the US. However, how does it taste? Let’s see, shall we?

Price: N/A at the LCBO

Region: Ireland

Cask Type: Ex-bourbon cask

Abv: 5Y 9/8

Nose: Violets, cardamon, orange

Floral and orange. Spice is there. That all said, it’s not that strong at all. Takes a long time to get going and pull out that orange.

Taste: Lemon, earth, thyme, cocoa

Lighter notes. Lots and lots of earth going on, but that takes the centre stage and it’s quite light. There’s some cocoa going on. But frankly, it’s all pretty meh and finding anything beyond earth is pretty tough.

Finish: Lemon, leafy, earth, vanilla

More vegetal, lemon, and earth. It’s here, after some time that we start to get the vanilla, which is nice. But the finish is again pretty meh and pretty quick.

Conclusion: Meh, pretty boring. Let’s be honest, the idea of using the connection between Ireland and the US is a no brainer. Almost everyone uses ex-bourbon casks so you don’t have to do much to make this connection.

Beyond the marketing, and beyond having this on your shelf to point at and think it’s pretty/cool to have something celebrate something that was seen as a slight. If that’s why you’re buying it, I may not share your sentiment, however, I can see why.

If you, like me, are buying this not to just stare at it and have a place to collect dust, it’s a pass. This is too weak. What should be a strong, powerful whiskey isn’t. The low abv could be part of the cause, or perhaps just want to make a weaker whiskey that’s “smooth”. There’re more interesting whiskeys that fall into that category.

Yes, there’s nothing rough going on. That’s because there’s not much going on. And I think they should go back to the drawing board on this.

57/100

World Whiskey review #346, Ireland review #94, Whiskey Network review #1647