I went on an Irish pub crawl in Philly yesterday. I had some of the usual suspects that have already been discussed (e.g. Red Breast, Powers, Harp). I had 2 whiskies of note. One was Concannon, which is an Irish whiskey produced by the Cooley distillery. As with most other Cooley products, I was disappointed. Cooley puts out harsh-tasting, unrefined whiskey that is a chore to drink straight. I was actually reading an article about Irish whiskey at the bar and a quote about Cooley puts a finger on the problem, "Cooley is basically a Scotch distiller located in Ireland." That's not entirely accurate (I do like some Scotch) but its close enough. I respect that Cooley is trying to do things differently, but they come up short more often than not.
The other Irish I had was Greenore Single Grain. It's good stuff, smooth and pleasant. It doesn't have the full-bodied complexity of a pot still like Red Breast, but that doesn't make it a dull dram. It's a solid whiskey with real taste to it.
