MacAllan 12 Single Malt Scotch - is there an Irish close to it?

dazzerb

A US friend of mine loves and only drinks MacAllan 12 year old single malt scotch. I can see why as it is quite good.

I am however moving and I would like to give him a parting gift of an Irish whiskey but would like to think he will drink and enjoy it.

So what is a close Irish match for MacAllan 12?

any suggestions?

IrishWhiskeyCha

Loving and only drinking Macallan 12yo is very narrow & closed and I don't mean that in a bad way but it is just like someone who will only drink Guinness and no other stout never mind larger etc. So on that reasoning the present may not be appreciated to the full. People can be quite comfortable in their likes and sometimes find it hard to venture any further. Nothing wrong with that either but it just limits you spectrum for finding more exciting tastes that could float your boat.


However to the question in hand what would be the closest Irish ... It would have to be a Bushmills. I'm guessing the Macallan 12yo is a Sherry matured version of Macallan.

If you really want to push the boat out you could go for a Bushmills Single Cask Sherry matured which are quite expensive and sometimes hard to source but are amazing but will cost you over 100Euro. If interested I can point you in the right direction. Next in line would be a Bushmills 16yo single malt but you may surprise him with the simple Blackbush. This is a blend but is sherried like Macallan and is over 70% single malt which is very high for a blend. And is probably the best Bushmills for you buck you can buy. (Avoid the temptation of going for the 10yo ... 16yo or Blackbush are your 2 main choices)

Jameson 12yo would be the closest from Midleton but it probably would not suit him and even though there is a 10yo sherry finished Tyrconnell choice from Cooley it is not at the races either as a step close to macallan.

dazzerb

thank you IrishWhiskeyCha

this is great info. Now that I think about it he goes on about the sherry casks that are used for the MacAllan. Is the "Bushmills Single Cask Sherry" the only bushmills in a sherry cask? Are there any Jameson's in sherry casks?

IrishWhiskeyCha

You have 2 basic types of casks Sherry and Bourbon. Then there are loads of other made wines finishes which we can ignore.

Bourbon matured whiskey is usually lighter in colour and is more influenced by vanilla, toffe and oak flavours.

First fill Sherry matured whiskey on the other hand is usually darker and quite noticable takes on the richness of the sherry cask that it is matured in. This can impart rich fruit cake and sherry flavours.

Most Jameson has some precentage of Sherry cask used in them with the 12yo having the most obvious influence from sherry matured whiskey but as with all the jameson range this will be balanced out with bourbon matured whiskey too.

Of the Bushmills 16yo, 10yo & Blackbush the Blackbush has the most sherry influenced flavours (christmas fruit cake is often used to describe it). The 16yo is next but is only rounded off with sherry casks so it may not have the dept of the sherry cask influence he is looking for.

A Bushmills Single cask (sherry cask) for me is one of the gems of Irish whiskey but they are few and far between. If you are willing to splash out 100Euro plus then certianly go for it.

However I would nearly suggest a Blackbush or a Jameson 12yo as there is not much else you can do. Further your mate may not appreciate any Irish against a Macallan in the end so may be wise not to spend too much.

I have sent you a pm though.