Love to hear your thoughts on Yellow Spot and why you are not a fan.
The best bargain Irish, IMO, is Bushmill’s red label.
Yaacov,
Over the past couple of weeks I drank a recently purchased on-sale Green Spot. It was good for the price, but somewhat lacking the green apple, spice and ‘tang’ I look for in Irish pot still whiskey. The sherry cask influence is greater than I’d like. But it was a good bottle. For a few $ more, I usually prefer Powers Johns Lane and for a few $ less, Writers Tears.
John,
I find Yellow Spot to be too soft, too sweet, and showing too much obvious cask influence and too little green apple, spice, and tang.
As always, YMMV
Thanks for the follow up. I totally get that.
I found yellow spot too “clean”, and too high toned. OTOH, Redbreast 15 was too rustic and rough.
What’s that mean? I think it’s silky smooth, rich and malty, with vanilla, pecan toffee and spice notes. I agree that it lacks the green apple tang. My complaint is that the vanilla and sweetness are a little much for me sometimes in the same way Dalmore can be. That leaves this as a change of pace whiskey for me, but one I quite like on occasion.
Taste can be hard to describe. Dalmore (15) is fine, but kind of boring, smooth enough, but nothing very interesting. While I’m not a big fan of wood and smoke, what I found with YS is that it seems to be missing the positive notes that can come with a little of those characteristics. It came across as “higher pitched”, with none of the lower register flavors I need for balance. Again, it’s really hard to describe something like this.
A couple new (to me) after tonight’s dinner. The Dubliner 10 was a clean, fresh, neat, somewhat linear one; while the Crosskey 8, though less aged, showed more barrel influence, and had a creamier texture. Both have their place: the first for sipping sessions; the second for after dinner.
A gift to my eldest son from fellow Wineberserker, Clem Nieto, who is in town for vacation (thanks again, Clem). Dangerously drinkable stuff; not as creamy as, say, Redbreast 12/15 (it’s double distilled); nice fresh fruit notes above the moderate crème brûlée/vanilla/honey; notably spicy at attack and towards the back, dark chocolate in the finish.
Drinking some Knappagogue 12