Last Night's Tipple

The Scottish like to think of Scotland as the mother of whisky, but that honor probably belongs to Ireland, with Scotland being a relative Johnny-come-lately in the world of distillation. By the 19th Century, Irish Whiskey had developed a style similar to that of Scotch but distinct. Where Scotch (at least malt Scotch) used only malted barley, the Irish had begun to use a mashbill of both malted and unmalted barley because of a tax on malt. Where Scotch malt was dried over peat fires, Irish malt was dried via indirect heat from coal fires. Where Scotch distillers typically distilled their spirit twice in pot stills, the Irish tended to opt for a triple distillation, which produced a lighter, cleaner spirit.

A combination of factors, including overproduction and Prohibition in the United States, conspired to bring hard times on the Irish distilling business. There used to be dozens of commercial distilleries in Ireland. Today there are three: Bushmills (actually in Northern Ireland), which produces only malt whiskey; Midleton, in County Cork; and Cooley, a recent start-up on the Cooley Peninsula and the producers of Ireland's only peated malt whiskey (Connemara). Most of the Irish Whiskey sold today, including most of the grand old brands that are still extant, is distilled at Midleton, which is truly an industrial-scale distillery. That includes Tullamore Dew. The Tullamore Distillery in central Ireland began production in 1829, and its flagship brand began production in the closing years of the 19th Century. Supposedly, "Dew" is an acronym of the name of the distillery's general manager, Daniel E. Williams, although that sounds like a just-so story to me. What isn't a just-so story is Tullamore's famous advertising slogan: "Give every man his Dew." Williams's grandson, touring the US in 1947, observed that the tastes of American drinkers had shifted to a lighter-bodied product, and this observation led him to introduce Tullamore Dew blended whiskey in that year. This was the first blended Irish whiskey on the market, and it was the beginning of a trend that almost killed Irish malt and pot-still whiskey. It didn't save Tullamore, though, and the distillery closed in 1959. The brand didn't die, though, and it's owned by a firm called Cantrell & Cochrane, which contracts out production to Midleton.

The 12 year old bottling that I have is a bit older and more expensive than plain old Tullamore Dew. It's still a blended product, and the vanilla aromas that waft up from the glass make this clear. In addition, though, there is this unique pungent sour smell that is hard to describe but that Tullamore Dew shares with other blended Irish Whiskey that I've tried like Jameson's. I don't know what it is -- maybe it's the unmalted barley from the whiskey's pot still component. I'm not sure if I like it or not, but it is distinctive. The palate is smooth, sweet, and not particularly memorable. This whiskey is okay but not spectacular, and I don't think that I'll buy it again when this bottle is gone. I will gladly try a 100% pot still whiskey like Redbreast, though, or a premium blend like Midleton Very Rare.