March 18, 2026

Five Irish Whiskeys One Blind Winner on St. Patricks Day

54 minutes

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We run our first-ever Irish whiskey blind for St Patrick’s Day and rank five pours using a nose, taste, guess, and score system. The winner surprises us, so we reveal the lineup, talk through the key flavour notes, and finish with a full barrel bottle breakdown plus a quick lesson on what legally counts as bourbon.

• setting the rules for a true blind with no hints
• introducing the five-bottle lineup with proofs and cask details
• ranking noses and discovering how similar two pours can feel
• tasting for vanilla, cinnamon, fruit, and that classic Irish character
• bringing Roxy in to help decide a near-tie
• revealing the winner and rethinking price and expectations
• scoring the champion with the Old Louisville barrel bottle breakdown
• answering a live question on bourbon rules and straight vs finished bourbon
• sharing New Orleans Bourbon Festival travel plans and possible live shows

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Labels can lie to you, and our palates prove it when we go fully blind on five Irish whiskeys for a St Patrick’s Day showdown. We line up heavy hitters and crowd favourites, cover the rules, and then commit to the only thing that matters: nose, taste, and an honest score with no brand safety net. The result flips our expectations and turns “I know what I like” into “wait, what am I actually tasting?”

We dig into the lineup details as we go, from Redbreast 12 Cask Strength and its rich fruit-and-spice reputation, to Jameson Black Barrel with that charred barrel sweetness, to Waterford single malt and its terroir-driven “taste of place” approach. We also pour Fercullen 15 with its Madeira cask finish and a BUA Irish Whiskey single grain pick bottled high proof with no added colouring or chill filtration. As the tasting unfolds, vanilla and cinnamon take over the conversation, two glasses become almost impossible to separate, and we bring in a second palate to break the tie.

After the reveal, we give the winning whiskey the full Old Louisville Whiskey Company barrel bottle breakdown, scoring nose, body, taste, and finish and calling out the notes that earned it the crown. We also answer a live question on bourbon rules, including what “straight bourbon” means and why finishing changes the label language. If you love Irish whiskey, blind tasting, whiskey reviews, and honest bottle rankings, this one is a must.

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