Collection: Irish

Pick a style first, because the categories reward different things. For pot still, Blue Spot Cask Strength 7 Year at $275 is the serious answer. For single malt, Bushmills 16 Year at $169 or Tullamore DEW 14 Year at $89. Knappogue Castle 16 Year Twin Wood at $99 splits the difference between age and price. Glendalough's 17 Year Mizunara finish at $329 is the one to reach for when the bottle is the occasion.

Beyond geography, the grain traditions diverge. Scotland built its reputation on single malt and, in several regions, on peat smoke. Ireland built its own blends and on a single pot still, a style that exists nowhere else. The peat line is softer than people think, though: Connemara 12 Year at $84 is an Irish whiskey dried over peat, and it drinks closer to an Islay than to anything from Dublin.

Most of it goes through the still three times rather than twice, and each pass strips out heavier compounds, leaving a lighter and sweeter spirit. Very little of it meets peat smoke, which removes the other source of bite. Worth saying that smooth is partly a marketing word, and the rule is not universal. Tyrconnell Double Distilled at $54 skips the third run entirely and carries noticeably more weight for it.

It is Ireland's own category, made in a pot still from a mash of both malted and unmalted barley. The unmalted portion started as tax avoidance, since the British malt tax of 1785 charged by the bushel of malt, and it turned out to give the whiskey a thick, oily texture and a green, peppery note nothing else matches. Redbreast and Green Spot Irish whiskey are the famous names in the style. On our shelf it is Blue Spot at $275, Powers Signature Release at $51, and Drumshanbo Single Pot at $89.

It is good at exactly what it sets out to do. Jameson is the best-selling Irish whiskey on earth because it is light, sweet, consistent, and almost impossible to dislike, which also means it will not give you much to think about. Treat it as a mixer and a starting point rather than a sipping dram. The 200mL at $15 is a cheap way to find out, and Triple Triple at $45 adds sherry and malt depth to the same house style.

Neat, in company, with water on the side rather than in the glass. The two drinks worth knowing are Irish coffee, built with hot coffee, brown sugar, and a float of lightly whipped cream, and the hot whiskey, which is whiskey, boiling water, sugar, a slice of lemon and four or five cloves. Both were designed for cold weather and both work better than they sound.

Something soft, cheap enough to experiment with, and hard to get wrong. Bushmills Red Bush at $34 is honeyed and easy. Slane Triple Casked at $36 and The Dubliner Bourbon Cask at $36 both lean vanilla and caramel. Clontarf 1014 Single Malt at $29 is the least expensive way to taste what malt adds. Buy two, pour them side by side, and your preference will show up quickly.

Yes. We ship at a $15 flat rate to every state where the law allows it. Rockaway addresses in 11692, 11693, and 11694 qualify for same-day delivery from the Queens warehouse. The order has to be signed for by someone 21 or older with ID in hand.