Irish Whiskey vs. Scotch. Review on Irish Whisky

I consider Irish Whiskey the older, wiser sibling of all whiskey, including Scotch. The process for making this drink has been around for hundreds of years longer than other whiskey and has had plenty of time to improve upon itself.

There are three major differences between making Irish whiskey and Scotch. Malting, Distillation and Blending.

Malting is the process of germinating and drying the barley.

Distillation is the separation of alcohol from the fermented liquid (the mashed, germinated barley). It's a refining process. The more distilling, the more cleanliness and alcohol. Blending (vatting) is used to create a consistent quality in the whiskey. The blending is done after the whiskey has matured in wood casks.

Scotch uses peat smoke during the malting process to dry the barley while Irish whiskey uses closed kilns. This is where Scotch gets its smoky taste vs. the clean taste of Irish whiskey.

Irish whiskey is distilled three times using pot stills while Scotch is distilled only two times. This is why Irish whiskey has a greater presence of alcohol & a cleaner and lighter taste over Scotch.

Irish whiskey like Scotch can be aged in old sherry, bourbon or rum casks for several years. Official Irish whiskey must be matured for at least three years and it's during this maturation process that the whiskey attains its individual character.

Scotch can be vatted(blended) for over a year or more while Irish whiskey is vatted for as little as 2 days and rarely longer than a month.

The best one line to sum up Irish whiskey is....''The bark is worse than the bite'' unless of course you drink in excess and then the bite is very painful. This is an incredibly smooth drink if you can get past the nose.

Irish whiskey in general doesn't have the character or complexity of a good Scotch as overall taste goes but it is definitely unique in style. Like I said, it's older and wiser. It's the old world war II veteran who witnessed the worst in man, then went home, raised a family and tended a farm. It's a very simple drink that doesn't need to be complex to know that it is good. I should add that when drinking any sort of Irish whiskey it should be taken straight up neat with no ice or water. The most fitting compliment would be a good Irish stout such as Guinness or Murphy's. It really adds and extra dimension to the taste. The perfect companion to a centuries old drink.