Top o’ the mornin’ to ya and this review of Roe & Co’s Irish Whiskey.
Irish whiskey may not be our specialty, but Roe & Co was just tempting enough to lure us away. Roe & Co is a fairly new distillery based out of Dublin with more than a few links back to the past. In 1757, a man named Peter Roe bought a little distillery on Thomas Street in Dublin, which was expanded across a century by Peter and his two nephews, Henry and George. At its peak, the Roe family’s distillery was the largest producer of whiskey in Britain and Ireland, but the rise in popularity of Scotch and the loss of the American market during Prohibition finally forced the distillery to close in 1926.
In 2017, beverage giant Diageo decided to establish a new distillery close to the original site of the former Thomas Street Distillery, which coincidentally borders and was formerly owned by another Diageo property – Guinness. By 2019 the new Roe & Co Distillery opened with a name to honor the original Roe family. So does this modern Irish whiskey live up to its legacy?
Well, as bourbon drinkers, it’s hard to say. Irish whiskey shares a lot of similarities with bourbon, but it can be made from different grains and isn’t required to age in a new oak cask. In fact, Roe & Co whiskey is actually aged in old bourbon casks and the overlap is noticeable. Roe & Co has a sweet vanilla flavor to it with hints of deep oaky wood, but that’s about it. With a thin texture and a light flavor, all together it’s just a bit too subtle. With permission to use any and all grains, we’d expect a big Irish whiskey brand to take some risks with bold flavors and spices, but it feels like Roe & Co is playing it safe.
Roe & Co’s flagship Irish whiskey is pleasant enough, but hopefully not a showcase of the best Ireland has to offer. For now we’ll toast “Sláinte!”to our Irish cousins and stick to our American bourbon.
STATS: Roe & Co Irish Whiskey
- Price for us: $32 for 750 mL
- Proof: 90
- Aged: NAS
- Distillery: Roe & Co, owned by Diageo
- Recommendation: Neat
