Two Irish to Try…

As a general rule, if the critics hate it, it’s probably something I’m going to like. Doesn’t matter if it’s a movie, a TV show, booze, coffee or food – 90 percent of the time I find myself disagreeing with supposed “experts” who write reviews professionally. I have read reviews on something and said, “Someone paid good money for that review.” Or, “That reviewer didn’t get paid enough and slammed that hard.”  And sometimes, I feel the reviewers just miss the boat.

Take Irish Whiskey for example. I appreciate a good Irish Whiskey and have a few favorites – Jameson Blended Irish Whiskey (especially the Cask Mates Stout), Knappogue Castle 12-Year-old Single Malt and Tullamore Dew Original, for example. But you may note that Bushmills is not on that list. Can’t say why, but I’ve never been a fan of Bushmills.

Which leads me to my latest adventure in Irish Whiskey, The Sexton. I will admit buying The Sexton for two reasons – the bottle and the price point. The bottle is a black, six-sided, with great choices in typography and graphics (in other words, it looks great). The price point was $26.95.

The Sexton Single Malt Irish Whiskey

The Sexton, (http://thesexton.com/) a Single Malt Irish Whiskey triple distilled and aged for four years in sherry casks is distilled in County Antrim in Ireland. From my understanding of Irish Whiskey, this means it’s distilled in the same building as Bushmills. Is it possible that it’s a less expensive version of Bushmill? Not really. For example, Budweiser owns and brews different brands of beer in its facilities around the U.S. and they are all different than Bud.  Proximo owns the distillery and Bushmills. They also own other Irish Whiskey blends and each is different.

On opening, I smell dried fruit like raisins and cranberries, warm spices and orange marmalade and an underlying astringency. Initially I thought rubbing alcohol or iodine but that was just a fleeting impression. The more I sniffed it in my glass, the more I liked it.

I poured about two ounces into a Scotch Whisky glass containing two ice cubes. The addition of water a small amount of water opens up the notes of the whiskey. The first sip was of honey and dried fruit with a hint of dark chocolate. The finish was salty, woodsy and with an almost winey sherry aftertaste.

After drinking it for a few days, I decided to read some of the reviews on The Sexton and came to the conclusion that a few of the reviewers were expecting something more than the whiskey was presenting. It is a single malt, for example, but a couple of reviewers were criticizing the blending. It’s not a blended Irish Whiskey.  I think one or two of them have a problem because it’s less expensive and only aged for four years.

My Opinion…

Is this the perfect or best Irish Whiskey available? No. In fact, what I find is a good, drinkable Irish Whiskey that reminds me of a decent Speyside Scotch. It has the same honeyed notes and sweetness that I enjoy in a Scotch without the heavy peat of an Islay. I will probably buy this again.

Two Friends Celtic Mist by Cornell & Diehl

I paired The Sexton with another “Irish” product – Two Friends Celtic Mist by Cornell & Diehl. The “Two Friends” are blender Craig Tarler & Gregory Pease who created seven different blends for C&D. Celtic Mist is a Cavendish based aromatic with a bit of burley and Virginia tobaccos. They flavor it with Irish Mist, a liqueur made from Irish Whiskey, heather and clover honey and spices. I received a 50-gram tin for Christmas (dated 4/15/17) but waited until St. Patrick’s Day before I smoked it.

My first impression is of Bailey’s Irish Cream instead of Irish Mist over a sweet, nutty tobacco base. The moisture level was almost perfect to my standards and it was easy to light with two matches and I only had to relight the first bowl once. After a few days, the tobacco dried out a little and  I could smoke it without any relights.

To compare my experience with other pipe smokers, I went to tobaccoreviews.com to see how others rated Celtic Mist. I was a bit disappointed to see that it wasn’t highly rated. Then I noticed something interesting in the reviews, most of them mentioned pouches instead of tins for example. Then I saw that for the from 2001 & 2002, it received 3-star ratings and from 2003 – mid-2005, Celtic Mist received 1 and 2-star ratings. After May 2005 the ratings went back up to 3 and 4-star ratings. Since then it’s been up and down.

The question is, “Is the production that inconsistent or is it a matter of taste trending?” I have noticed that some blends seem to get popular and receive high reviews and then fall out of popularity and get negative reviews only to be rediscovered a few years later. Interesting thought anyway.

Finally…

As for the pairing of Celtic Mist with The Sexton, I found it to work for me. I found a sip of The Sexton brought out the creamy, fruity flavoring of the Celtic Mist while the Celtic Mist added a subtle smokiness to the Irish whiskey.

(© J. Gibson Creative Services, March 2018)