Tasting Time: Powers Irish Rye Irish Whiskey
🏺 History/Background - Powers was founded in 1791 by James Power who owned an inn just outside the old city walls of Dublin. Power was known as a perfectionist and when he wasn’t happy with the whiskey that he bought for his inn he decided to distill his own. The original Powers distillery at John’s Lane grew to over 5 acres, and in its heyday (mid to late 1800’s) it was one of the most modern distilleries in Ireland, and beyond. Powers were reputed to have great respect for their employees and generations of the same families worked at John’s Lane over the years.
In 1966 Powers merged with Jameson and Cork Distilleries Company to form Irish Distillers Ltd. and in 1975 the production of Powers was moved to Midleton in Co. Cork. At the time Powers was the best-selling Irish whiskey in Ireland.
Powers Irish Rye is packaged in its “new” pot still style bottle (launched in 2020)and continues the centuries-old tradition of having the “Diamond P” front and center on the label. The color of the label, green, is a departure from the color palette of the existing range with Gold Label (Red/Orange), Three Swallow (Light Blue), and John’s Lane (Grey/Gray).
The Irish Rye Whiskey was first mooted a decade ago and the rye in this whiskey is sourced from Co. Wexford. The rye is malted and then triple distilled in a Column Still in a once-a-year production run. The whiskey is aged for 4 to 5 years in all American Oak casks/barrels that are a mix of Virgin (New & Unused) + Refill Virgin + First Fill Ex-Bourbon + Refill Ex-Bourbon.
Powers Irish Rye Irish Whiskey
🥃 Style - Irish Rye Whiskey - NAS (No Age Statement)
🔢 The Numbers - $33 + Tax | 750ml. | 43.2% abv/86.4proof | 2lbs 12ozs/1239gms
👀 Appearance - This whiskey shows a deep golden color.
👃 Nose - On the nose, it's clean, and right up front it shows pepper spice - a mix of crushed black, white, and pink peppercorns - and also on the spice spectrum there’s clove with a sweet ginger character, think crystallized ginger. Lemon is the first fruit character that I find, more of the grated lemon zest aroma and that’s followed by a fleshy, ripe red delicious apple character. There are also hints of caramel sweetness and a dry aroma that hints at leather. With Water Added - a new character appears for me - dark chocolate - and the spice becomes a touch muted but the pepper and cloves are joined by cardamom, yes cardamom. The lemon and red apple characters take a small step back once the water is added.
👅 Palate - This is a warm pepper spice led mouth-filling whiskey that feels balanced on initial taste. The pepper spice is first to be tasted and again it’s followed by that crystalized ginger character. As the spice mellows and warms in the mouth, the first fruit character to me is juicy fruit chewing gum, followed by that same lemon and red apple that are found on the nose. There’s a lovely sweetness of vanilla, caramel, and marshmallow that wrap themselves around all of the other flavors. With Water Added - The pepper and ginger spice are still upfront but feel more integrated with the lemon and red apple fruit sweetness. As the whiskey is swallowed there’s a long, creamy sweet marshmallow flavor that lingers.
📝 Conclusion - I find the Powers Irish Rye intriguing as we don’t have much modern history of Rye Whiskey production in Ireland. I feel that this whiskey will be a fantastic base for cocktails given its depth of flavor that runs the gamut from spice to sweet. For $33 on the shelf, it’s fairly priced and is likely to tempt many American rye whiskey drinkers to “Go Green”
✅ Rating - On my not-too-scientific scale of 1 to 5 - with 1=Poor and 5=Excellent/Off The Hook and I give 3.5 whiskey emojis to Powers Irish Rye Irish Whiskey 🥃🥃🥃1/2
📔 Notes - I use the Tuath Irish Whiskey Tasting Glass when I taste any spirits but especially when I’m tasting Irish Whiskey. I use it because, in my opinion, the flared wider top at the top of the glass allows the alcohol component of an Irish Whiskey to dissipate somewhat while allowing me to pick up the aromas and notes of the Whiskey from the center of the glass.
I also use two glasses when I taste, pouring the Whiskey from one into the other and again this is a personal preference for me as it again allows me to get under the bonnet (hood) so to speak.
When I use water in my tasting it is always Distilled Water as I reckon that distilled spirit deserves distilled water!