The Big Fellow

The Irish part of me really dislikes St. Patrick's Day . Like my pals over at Liquor Snob say: 

It's the biggest amateur drinking night of the year, where everyone pretends they're Irish for a day.

Apparently to a lot of people, being honorary Irish means paying a $15 cover charge to get into an over-crowded bar and drink too many pints of Budweiser tinted with green food coloring.

We may sound bitter, but that's because drinking is not an amateur sport. Believe us - we're Scottish, we drink every night.

All the knuckleheads running around, wearing green, drinking their annual half pint of Guinness, (they'll switch back to Miller Lite in a minute) and singing Danny Boy off-key. Blechhh...I avoid Irish pubs on St. Patrick's day like I avoid duck hunting with Dick Cheney.

Anyhoo... when I got back from London, I was lucky enough to have a package waiting from Sidney Frank Importers. It was two samples of their new Irish Whiskey, Michael Collins. Unfortunately, I was sick, and didn't have a chance to give the whiskey the attention it required right off.

By the time I could actually taste again, it was St.Patrick's Day - but as you may have guessed from above I'm not going to buy into the "Irish things are only interesting on St. Patrick's Day" bias - so I consciously avoided doing the story around March 17th - there was enough silliness about Guinness, shamrocks, corned beef and Irish Whiskey to keep you occupied - I'm not going to add to all that.

Good whiskey is good all year.

So I decided to publish today, APRIL 17th. So there.

Background

Developed by Sidney Frank with the partnership and whiskey production expertise of the Cooley Distillery, Michael Collins has been released in two versions, a Blend and a Single Malt. Michael Collins was developed for the U.S. market, but will be available at select upscale retailers as well as Duty Free in Ireland.

The whiskey is named in honor of "The Big Fellow" who spearheaded the fight for Irish independence and who was assassinated in 1922 at the age of 31. Both are bottled at 40% and aged in small oak casks to accelerate the maturation process.

Michael Collins Blended Irish Whiskey

Michael Collins Blended Irish Whiskey is a combination of malted barley (which, like most Cooley Distillery whiskies, is twice distilled in pot stills) - a small amount of which is peated, and blended with column-distilled corn whiskeys.

Apparently the youngest component is four years old, though there are some 12 year olds in the mix. The aroma is honeyed and malty, with a touch of oak; while the taste is malty, light and quite sweet. The finish is short, but pleasant.

(By comparison, I find the nose of Jameson to be leather and caramel vanilla, while the taste is spicy-pepper with rich vanilla undertones - with a long, lingering finish.)

Being so sweet, it will likely make a very nice mixed-drink base (I tried it neat).

All in all, not a bad little blend, but with a price point of $26.99 for 750ml, it is a bit pricier than your average Irish Blend.

The blend will also be available in 1 liter, 375ml and a 50 ml mini.

Michael Collins Single Malt Irish Whiskey

Michael Collins Single Malt is also double distilled in pot stills, from a mixture of peated and unpeated malted barley. The components for the single malt are aged from eight to more than 12 years.

The nose on the single malt is soft malt and light citrus - but it doesn't give you a clue that the taste is deep and rich maltiness with a very slight peat taste and a hint of smoke in the finish - which is malty, long and presents hints of caramel and chocolate.

I liked this quite a bit, it's slightly reminiscent of Connemara but it's definitely got it's own vibe. With a price point of $39.99 for 750ml, it is a little pricier than your average Irish Malt - except for Connemara.

Other points

The blend and the single malt are identical in color so there is some artificial coloring at play.

The bottles are unique and quite attractive, with an interesting series of ridges along the back side. The labels are very similar with the blended version primarily black, while the single malt is primarily gold. The bottles will certainly stand out in a bar or your liquor cabinet; unfortunately, they are a bit taller than the average whiskey bottle, which could present storage problems.

I'm a little worried that by going with the "Michael Collins" name, the target audience is strictly the hard core Irish community. I mean, who else has a clue who Michael Collins is? And with the blend price point higher than your average Irish Blend, they are positioned quite a bit above the cost of a Tullamore Dew, Powers, Jameson or Bushmills - the standards in Irish bars, pubs and households.

Likewise, with the single malt price point at $39.99, it's still higher than Bushmills 10 year old, Knappogue or Clontarf, but it's not far off the mark.

However, the folks behind this, Sidney Frank Importing, are also the same guys who created the "ultra-premium" vodka segment with the introduction of a French vodka when every one else said "Whaaa??" - they later sold that French vodka to Bacardi for $2 billion, the largest single brand sale in the history of the adult beverages. You know it as Grey Goose.

Sidney Frank also had great success turning obscure little German Jägermeister into a staple at hipster bars through a mixture or hottie-based marketing and ubiquity - as well as getting in early on the wave of high end tequilas with the very successful Corazon.

The Michael Collins blend is apparently positioned to compete against Jameson and Bushmills, but as a more premium product based on the price and packaging.

Does that sound silly? Well, Sidney Frank got everyone to pay $30 a bottle for vodka, when the standard bottle was selling for $20. These guys can market liquor, so if anyone can use the name of a little known Irish nationalist folk hero to create the hot new Irish whiskey, Sidney Frank can.

Speaking about Sidney Frank, Jack Teeling of Cooley told me:

They are a superb partner given their marketing skills and the on-trade sales force they have from their Grey Goose and Jagermeister experience, which can only help to expand the Irish whiskey segment of the market and bring consumers in that other brands couldn’t. This will hopefully open their eyes to who Cooley Distillery is and experiment with our other whiskies.

As for you, the Scotch whisk(e)y lover, I'd pass on the blend - which is really destined for mixed drinks, shooters and "Irish car bombs" - and try the single malt, a little expensive compared to other Irish single malts, but darned tasty - and well within the price range of your average single malt Scotch.

Then pick up bottles of Connemara, Black Bush and Red Breast to fill out your Irish collection.

Comments

[Matt]

Great "review" as usual Kevin! Even though I am one of those that will linger on the price, you still piqued my interest. When I get back on my feet and re-establish my "collection" I will have to get a bottle of MC.

[Brad]

I've been into single malt scotch for just a little while, but I'm a big fan.
Then I tried Michael Collins at Pint's Pub here in Denver (claim largest single malt selection outside of U.K.). I couldn't believe how smooth and tasty it was. I tasted it off the heels of Glenmorangie 15yo and coincidentally, it seemed quite similar to me but better.
I'll have to try out those other Irish single malts (MC was the first I'd tried) and stop paying double the price!

[Bob]

I was stocking up for this past years St Patrick's day party that I was hosting for family and friends (why go out when everyone is drunk - just stay at home and get drunk) when I saw MC in the store. I took a bottle of the blended version home - that night while enjoying the company and drinks that we had out, I opened the bottle and was really amazed at how smooth and flavorful it was. I had been drinking Jack Daniels Single Barrel for a while, and would consider it my favorite, but the MC was nothing short of excellent. It surprised a few guests - none of us had heard or saw it before and we were really amazed at the smoothness, the flavor, etc. I would definately recommend it.

[Dan Z.]

Bought a bottle of the MC Blend for under $20 at a local liquor store in Aurora, CO. Drawn to the unique bottle while reaching for Powers. I was quite impressed with the smooth finish for under $20 and will go back and buy out the rest of their stock...

[Iver]

I tried the blended Michael Collins for the first time yesterday. I had it served neat in a small "snifter" and found it to be a delightful midday whiskey.

Usually a Scotch or Kentucky bourbon drinker (Johnny Walker Black and Woodford Reserve), I found the Michael Collins to be an excellent choice for a midday or warm weather selection.

I am now eager to try the single malt to test it's character as well. I smoke cigars and am always looking for an aditional companion libation. This will join O Ban, Johnny Walker and aged tawny ports as a mate for certain cigars.