Cocktails with Irish whiskey
Irish whiskey is distilled and matured at least three years on the island of Ireland. It is the lightest and softest corner of the whisky world: clean, fruity and all but smokeless.
ABV40–46%Most at 40%. Irish whiskey’s light body holds up to long dilution, so 40% is plenty in a highball or an Irish Coffee; cask-strength bottlings run higher.
Substitutes for Irish whiskey
It is the lightest of the whiskies, so any swap adds weight — smoke, oak or corn sweetness — and the drink gets heavier rather than different. In an Irish Coffee that matters most, since the whiskey is there to be soft under the cream.
On the label
- Single pot still
- The distinctively Irish style: malted AND unmalted barley distilled together at one distillery, giving a spicy, creamy body found nowhere else.
- Single malt
- All malted barley, one distillery — like Scotch single malt, but usually triple-distilled and unpeated.
- Single grain
- Mostly corn or wheat from a column still: light and neutral.
- Blended
- A mix of the above and the most common style — the everyday, easy Irish, built for smoothness.
