Date:	Thursday, August 26th
Time:	Doors open: 7:30pm Tasting begins: 8:00pm sharp
Where:	Brooks Hotel, Drury Street, Dublin 2.
Tickets:	Members: €15 Non-members: €22.50

Event Description

The Society has teamed up with the expert fromageristes at Fallon & Byrne to present the world's first ever Irish whiskey and cheese matching evening.

Irish cheeses have long forged an admirable partnership with wines of various hues, demonstrating the range of complexity and diversity for which they have become renowned worldwide.

But after extensive research, the Society believes we have discovered an even more rewarding marriage of food and drink, based on stringent locavore principles.

The Irish Whiskey Society has proven beyond doubt that Ireland produces a spirit of infinite depth and variety. Does this country have a foodstuff that can match such complexity and diversity? Indeed it does. Skilled artisans and contentedly grazing animals collaborate to convert our lush grasslands into a profusion of dairy delicacies.

We will sample half a dozen Irish cheeses, to be introduced by our friends at Fallon & Byrne. For each of these cheeses, the Society has carefully chosen a matching Irish whiskey, with the partnerships selected to highlight the unique characteristics of both spirit and cheese.

You will be amazed how elegantly the flavours combine to produce an experience that is significantly greater than the sum of its parts.

We hope you can join us for this exciting evening and that you will agree with us, when the plates are empty and the glasses drained, that whiskey and cheese have been apart for long enough.

Whiskeys

Name	Type	Age	Distillery	Region	ABV	Distilled	Bottled	Votes*
Greenore 6yo	Grain	6	Cooley	Ireland	40%			0 (6)
Irishman Single Malt	Single Malt	10	Bushmills	Ireland	40%			1 (5)
Writers Tears	Pot Still Blend		Unspecified	Ireland	40%			9 (2)
Tyrconnell Anima Negra Crianza Finish	Single Malt	10	Cooley	Ireland	46%			18 (1)
Locke's 8yo	Single Malt	8	Cooley	Ireland	40%			3 (4)
Connemara 8yo	Single Malt	8	Cooley	Ireland	46%			9 (2)

* At the end of the night we vote for our favourite whiskey. Final ranking is in (brackets).

Cheeses

Name	Type	County	Pasteurised	Matched With	Votes
Gubbeen	Cow	Cork	Yes	Greenore 6yo	0 (6)
St Gall	Cow	Cork	No	Irishman Single Malt	3 (5)
St Tola Fresh Log	Goat	Clare	No	Writers Tears	11 (2)
Bluebell Falls Hard	Goat	Clare	No	Tyrconnell AN Crianza	12 (1)
Knockanore Smoked	Cow	Waterford	No	Locke's 8yo	7 (3)
Crozier Blue	Sheep	Tipperary	No	Connemara 8yo	7 (3)

Besides voting on our favourite whiskey and cheese of the night, we also voted on the best match between whiskey and cheese:

Whiskey & Cheese Combinations

Combination	Votes*
Gubbeen & Greenore 6yo	1 (6)
St Gall & Irishman Single Malt	3 (5)
St Tola Fresh Log & Writers Tears	9 (3)
Bluebell Falls Hard & Tyrconnell AN Crianza Finish	11 (1)
Knockanore Smoked & Locke's 8yo	4 (4)
Crozier Blue & Connemara 8yo	11 (1)

We also had a bonus tasting of two cheddars, introduced by the cheesemaker himself, Tom Burgess, of Coolattin Cheddar:

Coolattin Cheddars

Age	Type	County	Pasteurised
Two years	Cow	Wicklow	No
Three Years	Cow	Wicklow	No

Report