Taste Test: Irish whiskey

Money Magazine bought five blended Irish whiskeys and then rounded up a tasting panel of drinkers - including a couple of recent imports - from County Donegal.
By Noah Rothbaum

County Antrim
Clontarf Irish Whiskey, $23
Grade: A
Sniff Test: This whiskey had the strongest and also the richest smell.
Taste: It fills the mouth with a big, pleasant, long-lasting flavor.
Burn: There wasn't much of a burn with this easy-drinking whiskey.
The Bottom Line: We were shocked by how good it smelled and tasted. Perfect for a St. Patrick's Day celebration.

County Cork
Jameson, $28
Grade: B-plus
Sniff Test: "Smells pretty good," including "hints of berry."
Taste: "Spicy," "complex," "robust" and "woody" with a nice finish.
Burn: Good amount of burn.
The Bottom Line: Jameson dominates the Irish whiskey market for a reason.

County Offaly
Tullamore Dew, $25
Grade: B-plus
Sniff Test: It has a "rich" but not "overpowering" aroma.
Taste: Silky. Not only does it go down smooth, but it has a good aftertaste.
Burn: It's very smooth, but it still warms the pipes.
The Bottom Line: Tullamore Dew might not be as popular as other brands, but it definitely impressed us. A solid choice.

County Antrim
Bushmills, $27
Grade: B
Sniff Test: A "pleasant," "sweet" and "complex" nose.
Taste: Despite the slightly oaky and "caramel-like" taste, this was a little harder to get down than some others.
Burn: We felt the burn. It even made our cheeks flush.
The Bottom Line: Bushmills hails from Northern Ireland. It's full of flavor but a little rough.

County Louth
Kilbeggan, $24
Grade: C
Sniff Test: Couldn't smell anything here. Is this water?
Taste: Comparatively lacking in the flavor department, except for a slight "antiseptic" and "biting" taste.
Burn: Burn? Yes, it does - all the way down.
The Bottom Line: Good for mixed drinks but not for making toasts.

Get your Irish up
Ireland is famous for many things - James Joyce, the Blarney Stone and Bono among them. Not that long ago,the country was also famous for its whiskey. For decades, American bars and liquor stores were stocked with plenty of brands from the Emerald Isle. Then came Prohibition. World War II kept Irish whiskey off the shelves, and afterward Americans began developing a thirst for vodka instead. Until recently, Irish whiskey drinkers had relatively few choices. Basically, Jameson or...Jameson.But these days, the Irish whiskey industry is experiencing a renaissance. Case sales of the drink increased nearly 130% between 1994 and 2005, reports the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. And New York City's Park Avenue Liquor Shop alone carries over 30 varieties. Store v.p. Jonathan Goldstein estimates that his selection has doubled in the past decade.Ironically, you can thank Scotland for this rebound. As single-malt Scottish whisky became more popular in the late '90s, bartenders, store owners and drinkers began exploring alternatives, says John Hansell, editor of Malt Advocate magazine. "The Irish whiskey industry saw how popular Scotch was becoming and said `Why don't we do the same thing?' " And lo, a handful of new labels have since emerged.What's helped in that growth is the fact that Irish whiskey is very approachable. It has a honeyed taste, with less burn than many other whiskeys. This is because most Irish distillers do not smoke their malted barley (as Scottish ones do); they usually triple-distill the whiskey (Scots do it twice); and they may use a combination of malted and unmalted barley (vs. onlymalted in Scotch). As a result, "it's an easier drink to get down," says Goldstein. In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I gathered some confirmed whiskey drinkers, including a few native lads and lasses, to get to the bottom of the most popular Irish whiskeys on the market. What we discovered: nothing short of a pot of gold. Slainte.