What's in the Glass? - 2021

When you get straight down to it, the average person knows one or two Irish whiskeys. And those tend to be friendly, familiar, easy-drinking drams: smooth, slammable and, most important, inexpensive.



But not this inexpensive. I poured an ounce of Kirkland Irish whiskey into a Glencairn glass and held it up to the light. It looked shockingly Irish whiskey–like, gold in color with a slight cloudiness around the edges. I brought it to my nose and was surprised by the faintness of the aromas. Besides an initial blast of alcohol, there was nothing to distinguish this as an aged spirit.



Things got better when I sipped it: notes of dry fruit, cedar and honeysuckle, plus a steady hint of peat. But then there was that alcohol again, this time in the form of a harsh afterburn. At 40 percent ABV, I expected my bargain juice to be smoother, softer. Instead, I found myself wanting to pinch a drop of water into it, which I did. That helped coax some baking spice flavors from the whiskey (vanilla, caramel), but it also flattened what little depth it had to begin with. The takeaway: not a sipping whiskey.

I staged a little Pepsi Challenge–style taste test with half a dozen colleagues. The mission: blind-taste Kirkland’s finest side-by-side with Jameson, the most popular Irish whiskey in the world. The irony that both pours could potentially come from the same source was not lost on me.



The results were split down the middle: Half the group preferred the Costco whiskey for its “subtle, smoky character” and “lengthy finish.” The other half found it “brutally harsh” and “unapproachable,” choosing instead the gentle honey tones of Jameson.




Sounds like us pipe smokers...