As part of the "My Favo(u)rite Irish..." series, I got to chat with Sean Quinn. Sean Michael to family and Quinners to his friends, Sean and I both arrived here in Northern California Wine Country in 2008 and it’s been fantastic to watch his winemaking journey in the 14 or so years since then.

Sean and I talked about wine, travel, sailing, his Irish ancestry, and lots more and of course, we talked about and tasted, his Favo(u)rite Irish Whiskey, which is Powers Johns Lane.

2022 has been another standout year for Irish Whiskey here in the US and while we await the sales figures for the calendar year 2022 (expected sometime in late February/early March) the sales figures from Irish Distillers Ltd. for their financial year show us that there has been substantial sales growth in the last year.

Over the past year, I've been lucky enough to taste and drink many, many (probably over a hundred) Irish Whiskeys, and as 2022 closed I decided to take a look back and pick out my 5 favorite / favourite Irish Whiskeys of the year. This is not a "The Best" or "The Top" compilation, it's simply me sharing 5 Irish Whiskeys that I really enjoyed in 2022.

As part of the "My Favo(u)rite Irish..." series, I got to chat with Walt Averill. Walt is married to the Belfast Born Maire Murphy who I’ve known for a number of years and together, yes they work together, they founded their company Capabunga over a decade ago.

Walt is a keen Irish Whiskey drinker and tells the story of bringing some Redbreast from Belfast to California over 20 years ago. We talked about their business, the pandemic, travel, golf, and lots more and of course, we talked about and tasted, his Favo(u)rite Irish Whiskey, which is Powers Johns Lane.

As part of the "My Favo(u)rite Irish..." series, I got to chat with Chef Bob Hurley. Bob’s retired now but is still active in culinary circles here in Napa Valley supporting our community. Bob was always an avid supporter of Irish whiskey at his restaurant, Hurley’s, in Yountville and we talked about Bob, retirement, his previous and forthcoming trips to Ireland, and how we came to be such a fan of Irish whiskey, and of course, we talked about and tasted, his Favo(u)rite Irish Whiskey, which is Powers Johns Lane.