Innis & Gunn Irish Whiskey Finish with Dan & Ryan

Sometimes St Paddy’s Day is actually St Paddy’s Week, because we love to reinforce European ethnic stereotypes whenever and wherever possible. And what better way to lower liver function as a celebration of Irish culture than with a Scottish beer?

Scottish beer that’s finished in Irish whiskey casks, that is.  iScotch loves Innis & Gunn and suffers from an OCD-level drive to try every entry in every brand, but these guys make it difficult. We have had in the past, but not reviewed, the Irish Whiskey Cask.  This is the Irish Whiskey Finish. The Innis & Gunn Irish Whiskey Finish says on the label it’s aged for 60 days, and the Cask was aged 60 days. Maybe they’re the same thing, maybe they’re utterly separate entries – even the LCBO is confused.  But it got me wondering about the agings of various I&Gs:

Reviewed
Original – 77 days
Irish Whiskey Finish/Cask – 60 days (both)
(Winter) Treacle Porter – 39 days (both)
Canadian Cherrywood Finish – 49 days
Scottish Pale Ale – 41 days
Bourbon Stout – 54 days
Oloroso Cask – 60 days

Unreviewed
Blonde – 37 days
(Spiced) Rum Finish – 57 days (both)
Toasted Oak IPA – 41 day

Interesting that the Original takes over two weeks longer than the next brew.  Sort of makes sense, if you think that the barrels that the Original is aged in, being the most available version of the beer would be the most cost stabilized. The feature casks are likely more expensive and require quicker turnaround to realize a profit. Although I wouldn’t think these guys are hurting.  Here’s what we thought:

smell
Dan – smells like it might be lighter than it looks, soft, no bitter
Simon – hoppy-bright without bitter, aley
Ryan – chocolate

taste
Dan – slight metallic, light, midtaste, coffee, pinot
Simon – like watered down root beer, minus sweet, slight tongue coating for a lighter flavour
Ryan – very untypically light, no sweet, bite, bitter, dark, undefined citrus

Innis & Gunn Irish Whiskey Finish – 7.4% 330ml – $3.25 – Scotland

Try it? Yes! Buy it? Yes!

But here’s the thing, it being the week of the feast of St Patrick or whatever, we decided Irish Carbombs were the best way to be extremely offensive and drunk at the same time. We had Jameson Select Reserve but no Irish cream, tho, so we made some Irish whiskey Boilermakers… let’s call them Boilertaters because, y’know… Irish.

In an effort to not die quite so soon, we did half shots of Jamesons into what was left of our beers after the above tasting. And it works! Here’s what we thought:

smell
Dan – really nice, caramel apple
Simon – so sweet suddenly
Ryan – apple is huge, smells like a real innis & gunn

taste
Dan – puts the middle back, all chocolate, fills in the blanks
Simon – so very tasty
Ryan – lots of dark chocolate, mellows out whiskey

So give it a go!