These Are the Best Irish Whiskies to Buy in 2022, According to Experts

If you’re only paying attention to Scotch and bourbon, you’re missing out on the impressive world of Irish whiskeys. Earlier this year, 70 judges gathered to taste nearly 5,000 spirits for the annual San Francisco World Spirits Competition, or SFWSC, the world’s largest spirits judging competition. Finalists for each category of booze have been slowly rolling out, and now the results for Irish whiskey have been shared.

As finalists, these Irish whiskeys will be going head to head again to determine Best of Class and Best in Show winners, which will be revealed in June. For the Irish whiskey category, these are the seven bottles that have earned Double Gold and will compete for the competition’s top honors.

Blended Irish Whiskey

Bunratty Irish Whiskey Premium Blend with Peated Malt

Bunratty

ABV: 43%

This non-chill-filtered Irish whiskey is a blend of malt and grain whiskeys, which is aged in bourbon Oloroso sherry and virgin oak casks.

Price: $33

Jameson Bow Street 18 Year Old Irish Whiskey

Jameson

ABV: 55.3%

Bow Street 18 is Jameson’s rarest whiskey, released once a year at cask strength. A blend of three whiskeys is aged in European and American oak casks at Midleton Distillery, before being finished in first-fill bourbon barrels.

Price: $155

Single Malt Irish Whiskey

The Quiet Man 8 Year Old Single Malt Irish Whiskey

Flaviar

ABV: 40%

The Quiet Man is a collaborative effort between St. Louis-based Luxco Company and Niche Drinks in Derry, Northern Ireland, making this the first Irish whiskey bottled in Derry in over a century. The single malt is aged for eight years, and its low ABV makes this an excellent easy-drinking dram.

Bushmills 16 Year Old Single Malt Irish Whiskey

Courtesy

ABV: 40%

Bushmill’s 16-year-old single malt is aged for 15 years in Oloroso sherry casks and bourbon-seasoned casks before finishing in port wine barrels. This bottle shows how Bushmills (and Irish whiskey in general) is taking over in 2022 — and beyond.

Price: $135

Pure Pot Still Irish Whiskey

Redbreast 27 Year Old Pure Pot Still Irish Whiskey

Redbreast

ABV: 53.5%

With great age comes an even greater price tag. This 27-year-old Irish whiskey is one of Redbreast’s most premium offerings having spent nearly three decades in a combination of combination of used bourbon and used sherry casks.

Price: $568

Redbreast 12 Year Old Cask Strength Pure Pot Still Irish Whiskey

Flaviar

ABV: 58%

Redbreast swept the pure pot still Irish whiskey category, and its 12-year-old makes for a more affordable option than its 27-year-old counterpart.

Price: $114

Irish Poitín

Mad March Hare Irish Poitín

ReserveBar

ABV: 40%

This isn’t a whiskey, but it deserves a shoutout. Poitín is an unaged spirit, which is essentially Ireland’s take on moonshine. Mad March’s is made of malted barley, distilled three times, then cut with Irish spring water.

Price: $42

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