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Powers Gold Label: Blended Irish Whiskey, 40%, $20
Powers Gold Label: Blended Irish Whiskey, non-chill filtered, 43.2%, $25
I feel mildly guilty about the fact that I’ve been writing a
whisk(e)y blog for nearly three years without a single mention of Irish
Whiskey. I wanted to start off with a thorough historical background of the
country’s whiskey industry, but the topic has been perpetually stuck on the
back burner.
Then, about a month ago I got an email from a PR rep letting
me know that Powers Gold Label was being re-launched with new packaging, a
higher proof, and the elimination of chill filtering. Along with that info was
an offer for a sample bottle. Now a free bottle of whiskey will never buy my
opinion, but it will move you to the front of the queue of topics I’m planning
to write about.
When it comes to Irish Whiskey, Jameson rules the world, at
least in terms of sales volume and shelf presence. Bushmills and Tullamore Dew
are both significant players, but basically tie for a distant second. All of
the other Irish brands are left to fight for scraps. Quality however does not
always go hand in hand with popularity, and Powers is a fine example of that
axiom.
Case in point:
A bar that I used to work at had a bottle of Powers on the
shelf on a fairly regular basis. One day a guy from Ireland walked in and upon seeing
it he said “You’ve got the Powers?” in a tone of disbelief. A moment later he
followed that with “Oh bloody hell, they’re not supposed to let that out of the
country.”
Since I already had a fairly favorable opinion of Powers, I
was pretty excited to hear that they were raising the proof and doing away with
chill-filtration; these are almost always beneficial changes. This wasn’t the
only change to the Powers lineup that was being announced though, and it took
me some time to cut through the fluff of the press releases and get a clear
picture of what was going on.
I do need to clarify some definitions that really only apply
to Irish whiskey first though. Like with Scotch Whisky, Ireland has
malt whiskey (which is distilled in pot stills only from malted barley) and
grain whisky (which is distilled in column stills, usually to a relatively high
proof, and usually from grains other than barley). When the two are mixed
together the result is blended whiskey. But there is a third type of whiskey
that is unique to Ireland.
Traditionally it was called “pure pot still whisky” and sometimes “Irish pot
still whiskey”, however in recent years these terms have given way to the name
“single pot still whiskey”. Whichever name it goes by, it is whiskey that is
distilled in post stills and made from a mix of malted and unmalted barley.
Blended Irish whiskey can be made by mixing grain whiskey
with either malt whiskey or pure pot still whiskey, and there is no requirement
to make any differentiation on the label (beyond having the word “blend”
present). Pure pot still Irish Whiskey bottlings were historically plentiful,
but until making a recent comeback the style had all but died with just
Redbreast and Green Spot remaining in regular production.
Going back just a year, the Powers lineup consisted of two
bottlings: The standard Gold Label priced at $20 and the Gold Label Special
Reserve 12 Year priced at $40. Both were blends bottled at 40% abv. Then, in
the spring of 2013, Powers introduced their new John’s Lane Release. This
bottling is a single pot still whiskey with a 12 year age statement, at 46% abv,
non-chill filtered and priced at $70. Around the same time Powers Gold Label
Special Reserve 12 Year was discontinued.
Fast forward to December of 2013 and we get two more
bottlings from Powers. First the standard Gold Label was re-launched with updated
packaging, non-chill filtration, a bump in strength to 43.2% abv, and a bump in
price to $25. At the same time Powers announced the new Signature Release, a
single pot still whiskey with no age statement, at 46% abv, non-chill filtered,
and neatly filling the price gap at $45.
There is also some variance in cask types used among the
three bottling. The Gold Label is aged exclusively in American oak, the
Signature Release is age primarily in American Oak with a small amount going
into Oloroso Sherry casks, and the John’s Lane Release is aged primarily in
American Oak with a small amount going into Iberian Oak.
Wanting to do a direct comparison and assuming that time was
of the essence, I convinced a local pub to let me smuggle in my sample bottle
so I could have a head-to-head tasting with the older bottle of Powers Gold
Label that they had on the shelf.
Powers Gold Label 80.0 proof
color - golden amber
nose - subtle but pleasant, malty grain and clay-like soil
palate - good mouth-feel, slightly sweet with grain and
honeyed tree fruits
finish - clean, warming, gets a little hot as the flavors
fade, but in a good way
overall - not terribly complex, but balanced and enjoyable. the
late heat adds some backbone and keeps it from falling flat as the flavors fade
color - maybe a touch darker, but I’d be lying if I said I could see a difference between the two
nose - surprisingly less aromatic than the 80 proof. very little there, but it seems more fruit forward
palate - no more viscous than the 80 proof but the flavors
are quite a bit different. slightly floral and more berry fruit than tree fruitfinish - the heat is still there but the flavors hang on a
lot longer and are joined by some spicyness, adding a bit of complexity
overall - greater intensity in general (both flavor and
heat, but a warming spicyness on the finish is especially noticeable). good
balance. still not super complex but it has a lot more going on with the fruit
flavors and spicyness carrying much further into the finish.
Chill filtration strips out congeners (esters, fatty acids,
aldehydes and higher alcohols) to keep the whisky from turning cloudy at lower
temperatures. Of course this can strip out flavor and body as well. Some of
these congeners are soluble in alcohol but will precipitate out at lower temperatures,
so most non-chill filtered whiskeys are bottled at 46% abv or higher to allow
the consumer to add a little cool water without the whiskey going cloudy. In
the case of Powers Gold Label we’re dealing with a blend, so the grain
component is distilled in a column still (likely to a relatively high abv) and in
this case the pot still component (be it malt whiskey or pure pot still
whiskey) is triple distilled. Both of these factors result in a higher level of
refinement compared to a typical double distilled single malt. This translates
to fewer congeners making it through the distillation in the first place, and
is why Powers can get away with bottling the Gold Label non-chill filtered at
43.2% abv.
I enjoyed both examples, but I would say the new offering is an improvement, and one that is roughly commensurate with the price increase. I’m going to make sure I hold back some of my sample bottle so I can throw it in the ring when I eventually get around to comparing the flagship offerings from Jameson and Bushmills.
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