If there’s one thing the Irish are good at, it’s making Whiskey. It’s been in this country since the Celtic times, and Uisce beatha is the name for whiskey in the Irish language. It means “water” of life. From the mispronounced “usice”, we get Whiskey. This weekend – between January 16 and 21, 2015 was the Dublin Irish Whiskey festival, which I had to attend.
Dublin Whiskey Fest ~ Ireland's first Irish whiskey festival! from Great Irish Beverages on Vimeo.
There were 25 venues (listed in the picture above) each with their own “signature” drink on offer. If you bought a wristband for 5 Euro, you got 30% off the drinks. A pretty good deal, all things considered. For my part, I made it to 8 total places, but didn’t get drinks at all, as they were out of some drinks. For those that I did hit, my reviews are that I totally enjoyed the festival.
On Tuesday and had 1 – the Habeniero Hot Toddy from the Bull and Castle, before going over to the Olympia for the Australian Pink Floyd gig.
This drink is made from Teeling’s Single Batch Whiskey (they must have been sponsors because there was lots of this about) which had been infused with habeniero peppers for 3 weeks. At the end of the 3 weeks, they removed the peppers and strained the whiskey. This left the whiskey with the regular flavors of whiskey, followed by an interesting capsaicin chili burn. To be honest, the drink was great – I loved the burn – but I’m not sure about how well the actual infused whiskey worked in it. When I drank it, the initial thought was that it was pleasant, but as I got further on – it confused the body. My tongue didn’t know if it was hot from the temperature of the boiling water – or the hot from the spicy of the pepper. The one good thing was that it made you nice and toasty (both hot and spicy) on the inside.
That being said, the infusion might have been better used in a modified Manhattan or a smoky old fashioned. As they are “cold” drinks, the spicy factor in the infusion might have had more of an impact.
On Friday, I had company and we hit more than one place, because I had more time before a late Gig (more on that later) for a Guns & Roses cover band. The first place we went was the Liquor Rooms on the Quays in Dublin. This is one of my favorite cocktail places in Dublin, and they’re a bit over the top in their 1920-1930’s prohibition style decor.
Their special drink of the evening was a Chocolate Irish Whiskey. Again, a hot drink but wow was it tasty. It was a gorgeous dark hot chocolate with coffee with creamy foam on top. They added a shot of whiskey and then some lovely gingerbread crystals on top. It went down a treat (seriously – can I just stay here and drink) and set me up for the evening with plenty of caffeine to keep me awake.
The next place we went was the Bison Bar. This is an interesting whiskey bar, with an “old west” type theme – the bar stools are all “saddles”, and there are plenty of wagon wheels and other stuffed beasts about as decor. After the first drink, we wanted dinner – and decided that bbq goes well with whiskey. And Bison makes some great Barbecue. Bison it was. Once we arrived -we were served a Teeling Small Batch neat. How do you not love the drink when it looks like this:
Teeling Small Batch is a very smooth whiskey, easy to drink. It’s slightly flavored of vanilla, which has a cool aftertaste of spice and the oak it was aged in. It’s easy to drink in a cocktail or straight up.
From there, we struck out. Twice. We headed over to the Vintage Cocktail Club. This is my most favorite Cocktail bar in Dublin. The problem with it is that it’s a bit hit and miss on if you can get in. They do great Cocktails – and everyone knows that’s the case. However, it’s very small – and they limit the numbers of who can go in and out. They had the cocktail “a bird in the hand” up on offer (love it!) but by the time we arrived, Friday night, Pay night in Dublin was really starting. We were turned away at the door. So we headed to the Stag’s Head, almost across the road from the Central Bank.
The Stag’s Head had a Buttered Rum on offer, but sadly had sold out of the ingredients to make it. I will note that the place was packed with lots of single men (with a name like the “stag’s head” do you wonder why) that were in their late 20s – mid 30’s. Interesting crowd to walk into as two single women (let’s just say we had plenty of attention ordering whiskey before being turned down due to lack of ingredients at the bar!). Might have to try this one again later, when I’m not on a mission for Whiskey.
We left the Stag’s Head disappointed, but decided to head over to Yamamori Izakaya, the Japanese bar. They have lots of tasty Japanese food in the upstairs restaurant, but if you head to the basement (the ceiling has stensils of Japanese dragons and the back bar has gongs and lots of interesting liquor) the whiskey choices are numerous. They made us a gorgeous hot toddy – with the addition of the elderflower liquor. The elderflower liquor really brought out the lemon,cloves, and the woodyness of the whiskey that they used (I’m sorry I don’t know which one it was). It was lovely, despite the 25 minute wait to get a single drink at the bustling location.
Next up we walked to the Rustic Bar. I didn’t know that this place existed (Yay for the whiskey festival getting me to a new and interesting bar). This is off George’s Street, and it is right above the Rustic Restaurant (have to go to the back and up the stairs). It is very quiet and has a pretty cool back bar illuminated with Led lights that shine up through the bottles. This serves as the centerpiece and main lighting – which makes for a bit of a “up scale” modern atmosphere.
The problem is that they had what was my least favorite drink of the night. It’s called The Samuel Beckett and made with teeling small batch whiskey, fresh thyme, homemade honey syrup and served in a poitin rinsed glass. To me, it tastes like honeyed vomit. No matter what I did, after the first taste, I just went Nope. Not gonna finish this one. The thing is that I may have to go back – they had a very interesting menu – eg. doesn’t the apple & cinnamon old fashioned and the blackberry apple crumble look yum?
From here, I was pretty full of whiskey, and didn’t want anymore hot drinks (most of the ones in the area has hot drinks) or cocktails that might be kind of iffy. So, we headed to Ukiyo Bar and hit the Jackpot.
Ukiyo Bar had your own private “tasting” of 3 Teelings Whiskey Expressions in what’s known as a “flight of Whiskey”. they are – from left to right – the Teeling Whiskey Single Grain, The teeling whiskey Small batch, and the teeling whiskey single malt. By far the one on the left (single grain) was my favorite, but it was a nice change from all the other places we had been. Plus, after what was essentially 3 shots… that was it for my evening.
I decided to grab a taxi, and head over to Fibbers for the Guns and Roses tribute – and call it good. Overall though, if you get the chance, I’d say make a visit to the Irish Whiskey festival. Hopefully get in early, and make sure you have a plan for where to go. The money saved was great – though I truly wish that they had more on offer than just Teelings. I like Teelings, but there are so many great whiskies made in Ireland – i’d have liked a showcase with a few more —
Connemara
Flaming Pig
Jameson
Paddy’s
Bushmills
Kilkenny
and that’s just a few of the whiskies that I was hoping would have been included – but didn’t seem to be. (but maybe that’s because of where I went….) For the first one, I can see the possibilities in this growing to an annual event with further offerings by more local bars. A good night was had all around.
