Bushmills 16 Year Old 3 Wood

@mystycreek, thanks for a very nicely written review. I wish I could taste from that bottle you are reviewing. I don't doubt that Bushmills 16 could turn out well, but both bottles from which I have previously sampled did not turn out well, mostly because of sulphur contamination. Batch variation is a big thing in whiskey. Bushmills 21 yo is a whiskey of great beauty. For me, though, I wouldn't consider buying a bottle of the Bushmills 16 yo without tasting from that batch first.

@Victor I'm wondering if sulphur problem only occured in the 16 yo or it was found regularly in the Bushmills line-up. As your comment and other users' reviews suggest Bushmill 16 yo seems to have sulphur trouble very often, while other Bushmills whiskies are ok?

@mystycreek, I have not yet encountered sulphur issues with any of the Bushmills products other than the 16 YO Single Malt. Happily.

@Victor Glad to hear that. I'm not particular fond in lighter whiskies, so I have been looking away from Irish whisky for a long time. Bushmills 16 yo really makes a good impression to me, gonna try some more Irish stuff and take it seriously.

@mystycreek, Considering that you make mention of " trying more Irish stuff", I suggest that you explore another wine-finished Bushmills, the 21 year which is by far superior to the 16 year. You certainly won't hear differently from anyone else on this thread;)

@mystycreek, if you see it, the special edition Tullamore DEW Phoenix Limited Edition has quite a lot of "oomph" for an Irish blended whiskey. Bottling at 55% ABV has a lot to do with that. I am a big fan of that one.

Thanks a million for the advice @paddockjudge and @Victor, but sadly Bushmills 21 yo is out of my range and I have not seen Tullamore DEW Phoenix in Taiwan yet. I will probably start with Teeling Single Grain, a single grain aged in Cabernet Sauvignon casks and bottled at 46% totally gets me hooked on.

@mystycreek, in the "Irish good value for the money" and maybe reasonable availability (one hopes) I would also suggest Jameson Black Barrel. Prices for the Jameson premium products have gone way up recently, but Black Barrel remains fairly reasonably priced, at least here. I don't know whether it is sold in Taipei. Standard Jameson is very batch variable, and can be anything from quite good to downright bad. I never take a chance buying a bottle with that degree of batch variation, without having tasted from the exact batch in advance. So far I haven't tasted any bad Black Barrel. Can you get Connemara Cask Strength there? That's a good one. In the peated category, of course. Standard Connemara is a bit anemic. I used to have a nice Irish Whiskey Desert Island List, but that is currently in mothballs, aka Connosr data storage. Stuff like Jameson 12 yo and Gold are ones I usually like (batch variation I hear recently, though, in the Gold), but they have gotten pretty pricey. As with most around here, I am also very much a fan of both the CS and standard Redbreast 12 YOs...and Bushmills Black Bush.

@Victor Teeling and Bushmills have complete lineup here, while others more common for just basic stuff. I didn't know anything about Jameson Black Barrel before, but I have seen Jameson Gold in the liquor store(at not so attractive price). Overall Irish whiskies are a bit hard to find here, most of the places just don't sell them at all.