Powers John’s Lane, 46%, €55

Wow! Could this be the greatest comeback since Rocky climbed back in the ring and showed the young upstarts who was the boss? It’s taken Irish Distillers a long time to respond to the pounding it’s taken from Cooley but it’s back in the ring with two wonderful pot still whiskeys. This is the better of the two, a whopping oily, woody package of classic pot still Irishness. The green fruits tumble over tannin and spice like frisky puppies. —Dominic Roskrow

Advanced Malt Advocate magazine rating: 94

Midleton Barry Crockett Legacy, 46%, €160

Like the man himself, this is altogether more considered and elegant, mixing whiskeys up to 25 years old for a complex and less bruising experience than the Powers. Instead, lemon and lime zest, kumquat, and blood orange entwine themselves around vanilla, nutmeg, and soft, drying tannins. No big knockout punches, but it goes the distance and wins unanimously and easily on points. —Dominic Roskrow

Advanced Malt Advocate magazine rating: 92

Midleton invited us to come taste some new single pot still Irish whiskeys they’re coming out with, and given how much we like Redbreast and Green Spot, well, I got right on the plane.

There were some 60 journalists, bloggers, and retailers on the trip, and we all trouped down to Midleton in the rain. After a tour of the distillery — during which master of whiskey chemistry Dave Quinn attempted to explain the entire path of their triple distillation process and lost us in a maze of low feints, low wines, high feints, and reintroduced low feints; suffice to say it’s a very complex and beautifully flexible process — we wound up in the master distiller’s cottage for a tasting of single pot still Irish whiskeys.

There are, Quinn said to begin, pot still whiskeys currently aging in their warehouses that are of such configurations of distillation and wood that they don’t currently have a destination; brand-wise. They don’t fit. Some may be new releases in the future; some may well not make the cut. But here are two new whiskeys that contain spirits like that: Powers John’s Lane and Midleton Barry Crockett Legacy. Fascinating to see extensions of these two brands.

We started by tasting Green Spot and Redbreast 12. Green Spot has a light, fresh character that echoed the raw barley we’d smelled mashing in the brewhouse. (Quinn noted that the Mitchells also had a Blue, Yellow, and Red Spot whiskey in the past, and that they were likely candidates for future releases.) Redbreast took that and upped the ante with a good dose of sherry wood, a much bigger cask contribution.

Then we moved up to the new whiskeys. The Powers was first, and it was clearly, distinctly different. First, it was 46% ABV. More importantly, it was fuller in the nose, with more wood, bitter chocolate, and old leather. The bigness continued in the mouth with a real punch, more of the cocoa and wood, and a wowing finish. This is a whiskey with real verve, “like strong candy,” my notes say. It is made up of 12 to 14 year old whiskeys, non-chill filtered and natural color, in “a sizeable percentage of second fill and refill casks.” Quinn said it was a best efforts attempt to re-create the older, earthier Powers style. It was impressive.

The Midleton was also impressive, in a more elegant way. The idea was to take the pot still component of Midleton Very Rare and refine it. It is a mix of three distillates: light pot still, moderate pot still, and one they call “Mod 4,” a heavier distillate. This is aged in almost all first fill bourbon wood, with a small amount of what Midleton calls “B-Naughts,” bourbon-type barrels that have never had spirit in them. There will only be about 2,500 bottles of this each year. It was light, sweet, and indeed quite elegant; creamy, a touch of mineral dryness, and a citric note of lime. Quite nice whiskey.

After a fascinating demonstration of hand-shaping staves by master cooper Ger Buckley, we were loaded up and ferried to Warehouse A-3, where the itinerary promised “Blas Spesialta.” Ah, Dave Broom said, the only Irish I know: “Special Tasting.” It was: we were sampled on three other single pot still whiskeys, right from the casks, which will probably be components of future releases. A great surprise!

The first was a mod pot distillate aged in a Madeira drum, distilled in 1994. It was light, fresh, with wood spice and sweet fruit in the nose. Tasting revealed a big melting sweetness, with some of that fresh green barley at the end. Very well-mannered for cask strength, quite fine and elegant.

Second was a light pot distillate aged in a “B-Naught,” distilled in 1992. There was an unsurprising pile of oak spice and vanilla in the nose, and the whiskey itself was bursting with the raw barley character and fruit you find in Redbreast, very light and floating over my palate to a fantastic finish. I finished this one.

Third was a mod pot 4 distilled in 1995, aged in a second fill sherry butt. This one was disappointing: a big nose of toffee, butterscotch, and dried fruit had a puffy note of sulfur in it that was also in the mouth; meaty, oily, and big. Hard to get past the sulfur.

Still, it was an excellent day, and as the sun finally came out when we left the warehouse, it was quite a capper. It’s great to see Midleton bringing back single pot still like this, expanding the range and definition of Irish whiskey.

Powers, 12 year old, 40%, $35

Advanced Malt Advocate magazine rating: 91

Jameson Rarest Vintage Reserve

There have been three releases now of the Jameson Rarest Vintage Reserve (2007, 2008, and 2009). The 2009 is now getting into circulation. What are the differences between the three? Well, I haven’t (yet) had the privilege to taste all three vintages side-by-side, but I did get the scoop on the differences between the vintages from the U.S. Senior Brand Manager for Jameson. Here’s what she had to say:

The first 3 editions of JRVR (’07,’08,’09) were based on Port cask inclusion and are essentially the same. However, they are not all from one vatting. Each year, the product is bottled from a new vatting. Therefore, in some cases, some barrels included may vary slightly from the previous year.

The initial bottling in 2007 was a vatting taken from three individual parcels of casks.

The 2008 offering came from the same three parcels, therefore the final product was similar in style but effectively matured one year longer.

The 2009 offering used casks from two of the original parcels plus some casks which were one year younger than the original.

It is the case that each year’s vintage will be slightly different although based on a consistent JRVR style.

So, I think her concluding sentence is the most important one.

Powers

Power’s 12 year old–a whiskey which I have been enjoying now for nearly a decade–is FINALLY coming to the United States in February. I love the pot still character of Powers, and the 12 year old expression is quite stunning.

Paddy

A very small amount of Paddy will be imported to the United States to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day for 2010.

Redbreast

Some more cool news. Redbreast 15 year old, which was only released once (and in very limited quantities) in Europe, will be imported to the United States in the fall of 2010!

I’ll tell you the ones on my list. I’d like to see Redbreast 15 year old more widely available. The same goes for that lovely Power’s 12 year old I picked up in Travel Retail a few years back.

I’d also like to see Green Spot available here in the U.S. And maybe even some line extensions of Green Spot, like the limited edition 10 and 12 year old expressions offered a few years back.

I could go for a higher strength Midleton Very Rare  too! (I know that there was one single cask done for a retailer in Europe.)  Hey, I’m even willing to compromise here. It doesn’t have to be single cask and cask strength. I’ll be happy with 46% ABV and not chill-filtered.

Finally, how about a single malt from Midleton? I know Irish Distillers make it occasionally for one (some?) of their brands. And I know that one slipped out about a decade ago without their endorsement called Erin Go Bragh which I bought. I understand that Irish Distillers wants to separate themselves from Bushmills and Cooley (who produce single malts) by making traditional pot still whiskey, but I still can’t help but be curious about what one would taste like if they really put their heart into it.

Anyone else out there agree with me? Anything else you would like to see?