Tag: Irish whiskey

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Featured Review – Lough Gill Barrel-Aged Beer # 1 – Spear

Yes, it is hot out and barrel-aged beers are not the best style for the weather but I did not know when I would see beers from Lough Gill Brewery in Los Angeles again, so here we go…

Lough Gill is based in Sligo, Ireland and they have three big beers on three different barrel types…

Since this is an Irish beer, I started with the Irish Whiskey barrel-aged oatmeal stout, Spear.

The booziness starts up strong once the can is opened. The first sip brings maple syrup notes. Not faint ones, big ones. Quite a sugar high, maybe a knock-on effect from the Oatmeal Stout base. The Irish Whiskey is backing it up as well making this a small sip at a time beer. It is relatively thin mouthfeel wise but because the other flavors are so big, that works to its benefit.

Next up is Trinity!

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IPA or Stout Jameson

I have been eyeing the Jamesons whiskies aged in casks formerly home to IPA and Stout but since I am not a big Whiskey person, the prospect of buying a full bottle without a sample first seemed like too big of a flyer.

But, I stumbled across little sample bottles and that was an easy purchase. Of the two, the Stout seemed to have more of a residual beer flavor to it. But if handed both blind, I would have had a really hard time picking which was which.

It is an uncanny valley thing. You know when something looks fake and tastes fake but the closer you get to the look and taste will leave people weirded out even more. I would have needed to get a citrus or pine hop note in the right quantity to have been happy and the same with the Stout, I really needed to have some Black Patent Malt note tucked inside.

For me, the Stout version seemed more on that road than the IPA version but not by a galloping head start for sure.

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Two New Caskmates

Jameson Whiskey is going “hyperlocal” with two new editions of Irish Whiskey. Here is the quick summary, ” The Jameson Caskmates Hyperlocal Limited Editions were conceived when Bale Breaker Brewing and Revolution Brewing traveled to Ireland earlier this year to brew their signature beers and season Jameson casks. Jameson then reused these casks for their whiskey, resulting in two different and distinct Jameson Caskmates Editions that have been patiently finished in local craft beer-seasoned barrels.”

Considering the hops that Bale Breaker may have used from their own farm, makes me pick that one first but Revolution Brewing is no slouch either.

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Real Smooth

Jameson Irish Whiskey has collaborated with breweries across the U.S. for their Caskmates program. We here in L.A. have only been able to taste the Angel City beer that was aged in those magical Irish barrels.

Now we might see another (since we get a fair share of Great Divide beers here in LA)

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Re-Used Hops


Some may view the Jamesons Caskmates program as mere marketing but I think it is cool to go meta at times. And I like the idea of putting that super popular IPA style into a Jameson cask and then turning back around and putting Jameson back in once the IPA has been emptied.

The only question I have is, when will they do A hazy IPA cask?