Powers

This seems to be an oily whisky with medium to thick legs running quickly down the side of the glass. Nice pale gold colour..very pleasant nose, oranges sweet marmelade a woody smell in the backround, freshly cut grass,. On the palate oily as suspected no sharp eadges...toffy and candy. The finish although medium, a beautiful coating of the mouth that lingers for a good 60-80 seconds. If this is Pot Still then I like it!

I got given this bottle about 8 years ago. It was a baking hot summer and a couple of friends and I were helping out one of their elderly relatives with a house clearance. We worked all weekend taking van loads to the local recycling centre and to the tip. Clearing a big house room by room shifting half a centuries worth of possessions, collectables and junk. Lots and lots of junk.

We finished the work on the Sunday evening. We led in the garden in the fading sun feeling exhausted but extremely satisfied. A feeling of positive achievement that can only come from hard graft with friends and a common purpose.

My friend's dad brought us a all ice cold beers and thanked us profusely for helping him with such a mammoth task. We had all volunteered and so it was a delightful surprise when he came back into the garden with 3 large boxes of Cuban cigars and 3 bottles of Whisky. We each got a box and a bottle. I was touched as we hadn't expected this and it was extremely generous of him. The cigars have become something of a ritual for us ever since but the whisky was added to my drinks collection without any more thought. Back then my mindset was that I didn't like whisky so I let it collect dust for a few years.

It now has a place in my expanding Whisky collection and is associated with a nice memory and feeling of having done something good.

This popular blended Irish Whisky is a blend of approximately 70% pot still and 30% grain whiskey. I have let it sit in my glass warming and breathing for around 10 minutes. It is the colour of golden straw. The nose is quite light with whisps of elderflower, caramel, melon and a honeyed cereal. The palate is soft silky but it doesn't deliver on the promise of the nose in terms of flavour. There is a honey sweetness with cereal grains. The finish is medium but forgettable.

This is the most popular Whisky sold in Ireland but I'm guessing this has more to do with price than anything else. I have an emotional attachment to the bottle but less so the contents. I wouldn't buy another when it runs out and feel less guilty for using this for my Irish coffees at Christmas. This will almost exclusively be what the remainder of the bottle goes used for.

When I first stick my nose into a glass of Powers Gold Label, I think of struck flint, that wisp of smoke from a cigarette lighter. The only other whisky to make me think of this was Hiram Walker Special Old, a rye-heavy Canadian. In fact in a blind taste I would probably guess this to be that.

Given time, softer aromas present themselves, namely, honeydew melon, butter toffee, a touch of spice and florals. This took some time to grow on me.

The whisky has a hard, aggressive attack on the palate. It is not unpleasant, though, just a little unrefined. It is crisp, lightly sweet, with dry shortbread in the flavour along with slight hints of fruit. Not much of a development, though it does get a little fuller at the back of the tongue. The flavour fades quickly, unobtrusively.

As entry-level blends go, this one is pretty decent. A few more years in oak would do it a world of good, yet it is quite drinkable as is. I discovered that it mixes wonderfully with ginger ale, adding a surpringly fruit flavour to the drink. On that grounds alone I would consider buying it again.

This whisky is full of flavor, color, and tastes like bottled artwork. The nose ranges from sweet and tart to honey and spice. The first bits of flavor remind me of fruit and honey. The finish tends to gravitate toward reminders of maple. The drink is a bit spicy and has an amount of burn, however for the price, I would go with Powers any day.

Powers Gold Label blended Irish whiskey is reported to be a blending of 70% pot still whiskey and 30% 'grain whiskey'. Powers Gold Label is reported to be the largest selling Irish whiskey within Ireland.

Nose: moderate to strong intensity nose, honey, grass, barley, barley-malt, a little floral, a little citrus and peach

Taste: honey, butter, malt, grass, with a sharp and bitter edge. This is pleasant if you like the bitter edge as part of the package

Finish: the honey and butter last moderately long, with the grassy malty bitterness lasting quite long and dominating the finish

Balance: the sweetness and maltiness of this whiskey are quite pleasant, and are set in a balance against a substantial hard bitter edge. It is an interesting package, but I find the bitterness on palate and especially on finish to be more than I like. This is drinkable whiskey, but one which I would rarely seek out

I don't know what I'm grading this against. It's Irish whiskey, and it costs about $25.00 for a liter. I'd say it beats other comparable brands in its class hands down. To compare it to different whisk(e)ys in its price range, it beats out Teacher's Highland Cream, which is quite an achievement. It's more or less honey in a bottle, without the crushing sweetness. I haven't had a bottle of Jameson in a while, and I suspect there's a reason.

I just had to try another Irish after the dissappointing Paddy the other day. So I gave this Powers 'Gold Label' a go.

The John Powers Distillery closed in 1974 and all production was moved to New Midleton Distillery in the south of Ireland. Reportedly, Powers sells 2,5 million bottles a year. Surely that means something, no?

The nose is delicate and sweet, like most Irish drams, but this one seems a little more complex with vanilla, cereals and caramel and a touch of flowers. Slightly mouthwatering.

In the mouth it's soft and a little buttery. Quite appealing. It starts out a with some bitterness, but soon some nuts and grass are palpable.

The finish is short and grainy.

This is a very easy to drink Irish dram, but well balanced and deserving of our attention. It's easy to see why this dram is very popular. It has reinstated my faith in the Irish Whiskey...