The Tops Of Top Shelf Irish Whiskey

By Richard Thomas

Usually it’s Christmas or birthdays that prompt splurging, but when it comes to splurging on whiskey, I think St. Patrick’s Day is as good an excuse as any to pick up a very fine bottle of Irish Whiskey. After all, if you’re self-employed or run your own business (as I do) and you are together on your taxes (as I am), you may even have some extra disposable income available after discovering your tax bill is smaller than expected (as I did).

You can see where the inspiration for this article came from. Nonetheless, St. Patrick’s Day is, at the roots, still as good a reason as any to spend some of your top shelf bottle money. What follows are five worthy contenders for that bottle money.

Bushmills The Rare Casks 30 Year Old Single Malt (Batch 003, 2022)
Bushmills is often billed (and sometimes dismissed) as “Protestant Whiskey,” because it is the Irish distillery found in the United Kingdom, i.e. Northern Ireland. Yet it is the oldest licensed whiskey distillery in existence; while many a distillery in Scotland needs to trace their antique roots back to what was basically a moonshining operation (and what was made there undoubtedly tasted like moonshine), Bushmills has 17th Century paper to back up its claim. Also, Bushmills was one of exactly two survivors of the nadir of the Irish Whiskey industry, when Northern Irish or no, the island was host to just it and New Midleton.

So, it ought to come as no surprise to anyone that Bushmills has some well-aged and wonderful casks of whiskey lying about, and recent attention given to the distillery by their new owners in Mexico has given those casks to the light of day. The Rare Casks series is now in its third installment, with the most recent edition out in December 2022.

Rare Casks number three started in the usual ex-bourbon barrels and ex-Sherry casks until 2005, when it was married and transferred to three first-fill Madiera casks. This is an odd case where the secondary maturation wasn’t just a long one, but longer than the “primary” aging. This ultra-aged, ultra-finished whiskey was then bottled at a rather strong 98 proof, and is officially priced at $1,000.

Midleton Dair Ghaelach Single Pot Still
This expression is a personal favorite of mine, introduced by the folks at Irish Distillers back in 2015. The idea all versions are rooted in is to take some aged single pot still whiskey and finish it in new casks made of Irish oak. Ireland enjoys the kind of mild climate that fosters tree growth year-around, but is paradoxically the most deforested country in Europe (you can thank the British for that). Using Irish oak to make casks is therefore a rarity, and was unheard of in modern times until Dair Ghaelach came along.

This series is known by the sourcing of its Irish oak. Here at The Whiskey Reviewer, we are formally acquainted with the Grinsell’s Wood and Knockrath Forest, but the latest version comes from seven trees harvested out of Kyleberg Wood. Although all versions are still available with online retailers, you are more likely to be able to acquire the more recent installments, such as Kyleberg and Knockrath, at the original price point of approximately $350. The early releases are now fetching closer to $700.

The Irishman 17 Year Old Single Malt
This single malt from Walsh Whiskey has a relatively low age statement, but a number of pluses that will appeal to American consumers (and let’s face it: American consumers vastly outnumber anywhere else when it comes to St. Patrick’s Day). As it is released every year, it will probably be the easiest expression on the list to acquire. It’s also a single barrel and bottled at near (albeit not actually at) cask strength, 56% ABV. Finally, the price point should be around $160.

Teeling 32 Year Old Single Malt
Teeling Whiskey Company opened the first distillery to operate in Dublin since the near collapse of the Irish Whiskey industry in the 1960s and 1970s. Although a celebrated feat, it also underlines that the company’s in-house whiskey isn’t especially old. Thankfully, the Teeling brothers, Jack and Stephen, brought some choice and aged casks of whiskey with them from their work under their father at Cooley Distillery. These have been released in periodic bottlings since the company’s start, and the latest is this excellent 32 Year Old single malt.

Here they took 28 year old Irish single malt, acquired what must have been an excellent Purple Muscat from Setubal in Portugal, and gave that whiskey an extra four years of secondary maturation. The result was ambrosia. It’s also priced like ambrosia, at $3,500.

Tullamore Dew 18 Year Old Single Malt
Another personal favorite of mine is this skillfully finished and blended single malt. Tullamore put their aged malt into bourbon, Sherry, Madeira and Port barrels, gave it a finishing spell in those casks for several months. The malt from these four separate finished were then brought together and blended into a particularly complex whiskey. This one is rather hard to find, not being in especially widespread distribution, but it is out there and the most reasonably priced bottle on the list. The day before yesterday, I was in a shop that had it marked at $110.