This year sees Walsh Whiskey celebrate 25 years of championing Irish Whiskies, and so, for St. Patrick’s Day, I thought I’d recognise my favourite of their whiskies that I’ve tried to date.
Walsh Whiskey have two distinct brands which look to replicate and enhance traditional Irish whiskey making methods: Copper Pot and The Irishman. Whilst the Copper Pot series really promotes the pot still methods of Irish whiskey heritage, The Irishman celebrates single malts.
Back in 2022, Walsh Whiskey invested half a million euros for the rebrand of its “super-premium” single malt focussed whiskies under The Irishman banner including some (frankly gorgeous) unique tapered bottles.
The Irishman features a core range featuring The Harvest (a rebrand of its flagship release made of 70% single malt, 30% pot still), The Single Malt (a NAS single malt), a Cask Strength release, a Caribbean Cask Finish release, plus two age statements: 12 year old and 17 year old.
Here we look at the younger of the two age statements: The Irishman 12 year old single malt started its life as a triple distilled spirit made from 100% Irish malted barley. It has then spent its whole life in first fill, flame-charred bourbon barrels, before being housed in those classy bottles at 43% ABV.
Nose
A really distinct smell of cut hay and fresh grass start off proceedings. More autumn-like smells join in like porridge oats, cereals, and ground barley. There’s light sweetness sweetness amongst the grain smells too that remind me of honeysuckle, toffee, and vanilla. A warming note of rye bread spices.
Taste
It offers a pretty oily and silky delivery of sweet treats. Toffee. Sweet vanilla cream. Chantilly cream. Peaches and cream! It has that slight tang of cheesecake / mascarpone too. Speaking of cheesecake there is a buttery biscuit base and growing malt warmth. Oak spices then arrive really late on and bring hot cinnamon and those rye bread spices again with a little dry nuttiness.
Finish
Sharp spices appear and disappear as quickly as they came leaving those sweet and creamy notes. The last profile note I have, quite some time after sipping, is the same the one I get after eating toffee pennies from Quality Street.
Verdict
My single malt tendencies have been sated with a distinctive Irish twist here. Great depth and warmth of malty flavours showcased with triple distilled softness and decent cask influence.
What is it about Irish malts that make things so creamy? Sure, the triple distillation makes it a softer and smoother spirit, but the way it takes to the bourbon barrels to harness that vanilla note is something else.
Personally, I’m a big fan of the 2022 rebrand. The fact that it takes half a million Euros to create that is eye-watering but sadly the world we live in, but it has really paid off. That “I” logo is great – like the Irish whiskey’s own eye of Sauron watching you enjoy their wares – and the tapered bottles and large corks do really stand out. More so than the previous dumpier Stockholm-esque ones.
This sample was tasted as part of a promotional campaign for the relaunch of The Irishman and this one stood out to me as the solid entry. They each had single malt at their heart, but I think the tenure and depth of this one adds something else, with that malted barley still being front and centre.
I’ve sat on these notes for a while but will be revisiting The Irishman very shortly. It’s what it is.
M
Sample disclosure: This sample was gratefully received as part of a promotional Tweet Tasting event run by The Whisky Wire for the rebrand of The Irishman by Walsh Whiskey using #WalshWhiskey on Twitter/X. All notes here are not intended as promotion but as an honest, fair, and independent review of the whisky itself. Please drink responsibly. Please drink wisely.
whisky unplugged 
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