good evening all,
as many of you who've read any thread i've contributed to in the last few days will have gathered, i've excited bleated on about bushmill's new expression, 'irish honey'!! i know there's a handful of fellows on here that enjoy an irish whiskey with their cigar (puff scotty, simon bolivar esp), so i hope to convey an honest opinion to you guys!!!
as i said, i've been pretty damn excited to try this stuff ever since i learned of it's existence!!! as i gather, it was created for the american market to compete with the jack daniels and jim beam equivalents!! saying that, it's quite an injustice to the bushmills brand to think that it has to create gimmicky products to compete with said market!! bushmills is a world class brand, a flag bearer of sorts for irish whiskey in general (in fact, apart from danny boy, i think it's the only irish whiskey made in northern ireland)!! locally, in some of the more 'fancy' off licenses, this stuff is retailing at ?40 a litre!! the whiskey exchange is doing it for ?30, i found it locally in tescos for ?19 for 70cl!! bought it without hesitation!!!
Bushmill_HONEY_HI-RES650.jpg
since i'm home alone and off work, today's been all about luxury!!! this evening i had a lovely dinner (poached glenarm salmon, herbed potatoes and veg, home made key lime cheese cake made by 'er indoors)! once that settled, i selected a VR famosos from the humidor, poured a hefty measure of bushmills 'irish honey' (for review purposes, lol) and a glass of duvel beer and adjourned out to the back!!
after a few puffs of the famosos, to get the taste buds ready, i took my first proper sip!! WOW!!! F**KING WOW!!! this stuff not only delivered, but exceeded my expectations!!! i'm in heaven!! when i first started drinking bushmills (my grandfather only ever drunk bushmills whiskey, in it's many forms) i loved it!! oaky, vanilla, mild butterscotch!! as i got a taste for single malts, it started to taste pretty bland, but i still drunk it!!! this stuff here, holy cow!! it's got the oak, vanilla, butterscotch..... there's also other stuff going on!! there's a definite honey sweetness, a refreshing fruitiness (pear), undertones of nutmeg, clove & cinnamon!! the closest this i can relate it to is bruichladdich 'laddie 10', a firm favourite of mine!! the whiskey itself is typical of irish whiskey in general, it's balanced, pretty light and elegant...... an absolute pleasure to drink!!! as i'm smoking away at a cracking famosos and taking intermittent sips of my duvel, i'm finding myself tapping my foot and drifting away in thought....... if i had someone here, this would be the beginnings of a night of conversations, correcting the world's 'wrongs'!! pure bliss is an understatement!!
to sum this up, as much as it may be a 'budget' dram at under ?20 for a 70cl bottle, for me, it's punching way above it's weight!! this ain't a rock n' roll drink, it's a more sophisticated affair!! this is more 'deep jazz' in the style of miles davis (i'm listening to 'in a silent way' as i type), freddie hubbard (i'm thinking 'straight life') or early ornette coleman (i was actually humming 'lonely woman' to myself as i sat out back)!!! for as long as this is available, this will be a 'go to' dram in my drinks cabinet!! i can see myself, during the summer in a cottage in donegal, drinking this!!! i can also see myself out back in autumn, chiminea loaded with turf, drinking this!! wintertime, this will be a basis for hot toddies!! i can also recommend this as a cigar lover's libation!! forget expensive and overpriced 'cigar malts' and 'cigar reserve' cognacs...... this stuff pairs up effortlessly and beautifully!!
for this 'review', i smoked a VR famosos..... and actually considered going back in for another cigar, thinking SLR serie A, bolivar belicosos finos or h upmann no.2!! next time, weather permitting, i'm busting out an h upmann sir winston, bolivar gigantes or cuaba salomones!! if i was to recommend a non alcoholic drink with this, i'd recommend nespresso 'cosi' or cafe direct's 'mayan palanque' ground coffee!!
all the best,
alex
as many of you who've read any thread i've contributed to in the last few days will have gathered, i've excited bleated on about bushmill's new expression, 'irish honey'!! i know there's a handful of fellows on here that enjoy an irish whiskey with their cigar (puff scotty, simon bolivar esp), so i hope to convey an honest opinion to you guys!!!
as i said, i've been pretty damn excited to try this stuff ever since i learned of it's existence!!! as i gather, it was created for the american market to compete with the jack daniels and jim beam equivalents!! saying that, it's quite an injustice to the bushmills brand to think that it has to create gimmicky products to compete with said market!! bushmills is a world class brand, a flag bearer of sorts for irish whiskey in general (in fact, apart from danny boy, i think it's the only irish whiskey made in northern ireland)!! locally, in some of the more 'fancy' off licenses, this stuff is retailing at ?40 a litre!! the whiskey exchange is doing it for ?30, i found it locally in tescos for ?19 for 70cl!! bought it without hesitation!!!
Bushmill_HONEY_HI-RES650.jpg
since i'm home alone and off work, today's been all about luxury!!! this evening i had a lovely dinner (poached glenarm salmon, herbed potatoes and veg, home made key lime cheese cake made by 'er indoors)! once that settled, i selected a VR famosos from the humidor, poured a hefty measure of bushmills 'irish honey' (for review purposes, lol) and a glass of duvel beer and adjourned out to the back!!
after a few puffs of the famosos, to get the taste buds ready, i took my first proper sip!! WOW!!! F**KING WOW!!! this stuff not only delivered, but exceeded my expectations!!! i'm in heaven!! when i first started drinking bushmills (my grandfather only ever drunk bushmills whiskey, in it's many forms) i loved it!! oaky, vanilla, mild butterscotch!! as i got a taste for single malts, it started to taste pretty bland, but i still drunk it!!! this stuff here, holy cow!! it's got the oak, vanilla, butterscotch..... there's also other stuff going on!! there's a definite honey sweetness, a refreshing fruitiness (pear), undertones of nutmeg, clove & cinnamon!! the closest this i can relate it to is bruichladdich 'laddie 10', a firm favourite of mine!! the whiskey itself is typical of irish whiskey in general, it's balanced, pretty light and elegant...... an absolute pleasure to drink!!! as i'm smoking away at a cracking famosos and taking intermittent sips of my duvel, i'm finding myself tapping my foot and drifting away in thought....... if i had someone here, this would be the beginnings of a night of conversations, correcting the world's 'wrongs'!! pure bliss is an understatement!!
to sum this up, as much as it may be a 'budget' dram at under ?20 for a 70cl bottle, for me, it's punching way above it's weight!! this ain't a rock n' roll drink, it's a more sophisticated affair!! this is more 'deep jazz' in the style of miles davis (i'm listening to 'in a silent way' as i type), freddie hubbard (i'm thinking 'straight life') or early ornette coleman (i was actually humming 'lonely woman' to myself as i sat out back)!!! for as long as this is available, this will be a 'go to' dram in my drinks cabinet!! i can see myself, during the summer in a cottage in donegal, drinking this!!! i can also see myself out back in autumn, chiminea loaded with turf, drinking this!! wintertime, this will be a basis for hot toddies!! i can also recommend this as a cigar lover's libation!! forget expensive and overpriced 'cigar malts' and 'cigar reserve' cognacs...... this stuff pairs up effortlessly and beautifully!!
for this 'review', i smoked a VR famosos..... and actually considered going back in for another cigar, thinking SLR serie A, bolivar belicosos finos or h upmann no.2!! next time, weather permitting, i'm busting out an h upmann sir winston, bolivar gigantes or cuaba salomones!! if i was to recommend a non alcoholic drink with this, i'd recommend nespresso 'cosi' or cafe direct's 'mayan palanque' ground coffee!!
all the best,
alex
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