Thank you to all of you who have subscribed to my Substack since I started my Irish Whiskey journey. I was pretty fastidious in the early weeks and months about getting content out regularly but since January I’ve been a slacker!
I have a good excuse for slacking as I’ve started to host both in-person and virtual events and depending on the week I can be hosting up to six events a week. On top of that, I was a little busy in March (no surprise) and in May I spent 17 days back in Ireland around the 2-day WhiskeyLive event.
I got to spend lots of time with family, after so long apart, and caught up with plenty of old friends over both pints, and plates!
I managed to visit 12 distilleries during my 17 days and took a breathtaking road trip west through the Midlands of Ireland and on to Galway, Mayo, Sligo, and Donegal. The warmth of the welcome and hospitality that I experienced brought me back to the Céad Míle Fáilte (Hundred Thousand Welcomes) that we’re famous for!
So now I’m back in Napa, summer is here, and I’m all fired up to create new and engaging content while I continue to host in-person and virtual tastings and cocktail experiences.
So I’m penning this to keep me on task to commit to a monthly “newsletter” here on Substack that will be a blend of my own content - educational, tasting reviews, interviews, podcasts, writings, etc. - in addition to sharing news pieces from the previous few weeks that I think you’ll find interesting. Expect it in the middle of the week, in the middle of the month from now on!
Sláinte ☘️🥃
Andrew
🎧 New Podcast Episode
Ireland’s newest distillery - Ahascragh Distillery - opened in early July for visitors. Based in the heart of the village of the same name the owners Michelle & Gareth McAllister were incredibly generous with their time when I stopped by to visit on my roadtrip. I got to sit with them and talked about their dream to one day distill in Ireland, the styles of whiskey that they will be producing, where they’ll source their grain, and the style of Single Pot Still Irish whiskey that they will ultimately produce. We also talked about their commitment to sustainability, their plans for future visitor experiences, and of course we talked about some history, because what’s Irish whiskey with some history thrown into the mashbill!
More Podcast listening options and photos from my visit to Ahascragh on the Irish Whiskey LAD website here and you can listen to more “My Favo(u)rite Irish…” podcasts here.
☘️🥃☀️ Summertime Sippin’ Irish Whiskeys
It’s that wonderful time of the year when we can get outside and do fun things! No sympathy required but I think the winter of 2022/2023 was one of the longest, and wettest, that I’ve experienced since moving to Napa from Ireland in 2008. So with summer here I thought it was the right time to share my thoughts on some great Irish Whiskeys for summertime sippin’…
🍹🕔 Cocktail Hour
Poitín has been a revelation for me on my Irish Whiskey journey and not enough of it is available here in the US. There are some distilleries in Ireland - Micil, Killowen, and Tipperary come to mind - that are doing some great things. The brand with the most distribution here in the US is Mad March Hare and I love subbing this in place of Vodka in cocktails as it has more depth of flavo(u)r and is more unctuous. For those of you interested in learning more about Poitín (pron. Puch-een) check out the Poitín Now event.
✒️ From The Blog
My Top Ten Places To Visit in Ireland - Over the years I’ve been asked by many people for lists of things that they must see when visiting Ireland. So, I trawled through all of those old emails and came up with my list of the Top Ten Places to visit in Ireland.
Read more on the Blog section of my site here or by clicking on the cows below.
📰 Irish Whiskey News
A selection of news about Irish Whiskey from the past few weeks;
Powerscourt Distillery pumps €25m into global growth - The Spirits Business
Tourism, tasting and Irish history: Whiskey a go-go in Killarney - Irish Examiner
Belfast uncorks some of whiskey’s best kept secrets - Belfast Telegraph
Glens of Antrim Distillery complete first Irish whiskey shipment to the US - The Irish News
Ireland's first eco-distillery opens its doors - Irish Mirror
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