Ireland Reminiscence and The Parting Glass: Whisk(e)y Wednesday presented by Calandro's Supermarket

Eric, Kate, Jeremy, Meghan, Jay, James, and Lizzie in Galway, 2006

In the summer of 2006 I spent nearly two months in Ireland. I traveled with the group of friends seen to the right for the first ten days, then they all left, but I stayed. Twas the summer between my two years of grad school and I needn't return stateside too soon, so I booked my return flight home for eight weeks later. I figured that I would find a way to survive. In truth, I found a way to live. I'm not sure there's much that can open one's eyes or teach them about themselves more than a couple months of traveling alone in foreign countries. Equipped with a couple backpacks, a tent, a few good books, a journal that Caroline Payne gifted me, and a Motorola Razr (hard to imagine how I did it all without Google Maps on my iPhone!), I left my compadres at the Dublin airport and headed west across the Emerald Isle. There are many good stories to tell and great adventures to reveal, but that might have to wait for a book later down the road. But today is Whisk(e)y Wednesday, and rather than give you a review of an Irish whiskey, I thought I'd share this video called The Parting Glass from Tullamore D.E.W. It reminds me of peaceful times in the Irish countryside. And rain. And whiskey. If you're really itching for a review, I wrote about the Tullamore Dew Single Malt 10 Year a little while back.

In exciting news, Tullamore D.E.W. is working on returning home to the town of Tullamore with the building the new distillery. Construction is already underway on this 50 million dollar investment, which will bring economic gain, new jobs, and the spirit of Tullamore D.E.W. back to its namesake town. I'll have to get back to Ireland to check it out!

 

Whisk(e)y Wednesday is a blog post series on Bite and Booze sponsored by Calandro's Supermarket. Calandro's has one of Baton Rouge's best selections of bourbon, Scotch, Irish, and other whisk(e)ys as well as wine and craft beer. This WW feature was scored by Jay Ducote, Eric Ducote, and Jeremy Spikes. Scores are marked for Nose, Taste, Finish, and Balance and Complexity using our own proprietary scoring system. Marks are then added and averaged, leaving us with a final score out of a 100 point scale. Our scale should be looked at on the full range of 0-100 rather than an academic range where 70 is passing and anything less is failing. A 50 should be considered a very mediocre whisk(e)y (though not undrinkable) while anything below 20 is absolute horse piss and anything above 80 is rather extraordinary and anything above 90 is world class.