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Best of 2021
We can’t believe we’ve come to the end of another year, and what a year it has been. From new business ventures to incredible wins and our first in-person event in a while, 2021 is definitely one we will remember.
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This March saw us launch our very own Celtic Whiskey Podcast! We wanted to bring you conversations with some of the people behind the very best drinks in the world. So, not just whiskey, if the product is good and the guest is interesting then we had them on! Some of the guests included Frank McHardy, Kevin O’Gorma, Alex Chasko as well many more. Be sure to check out the full archive of incredible chats.
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Irish Whiskey Awards
This November we were delighted to bring back the Irish Whiskey Awards, it was the lift we all needed after the insanity that was 2021 and 2020! However, this year was a little different, as each sample was carefully poured and posted out to each judge to be blind tasted at home. Our incredible judges came from the Celtic Whiskey Club, Irish Whiskey Society — Dublin and Dingle, Cork Whiskey Society, Waterford Whiskey Society, Kilkenny Whiskey Guild, Ennis Whiskey Club, 1875 Whiskey Club and Belfast Whiskey Club as well as industry professionals. The results were then compiled between our team and all results were meticulously audited and verified by both Serghios Florides, Owner and Editor-in-Chief of Irish Whiskey Magazine, and William Lavelle President of the Irish Whiskey Association. Jack Teeling, the Founder and Managing Director of Teeling Whiskey was the keynote speaker and presented the awards on the night. The event was hosted in the beautiful Powerscourt Distillery. We saw some incredible wins, one that is near and dear to us is Celtic Cask 1999 - Tríocha a Cúig - 35 taking home Best Irish Whiskey of the Year!
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Our October Auction this year had one of the rarest Irish whiskeys in the world: Midleton Silent Distillery Chapter Two. This exciting bottle was launched in May 2021 with only 70 bottles worldwide. A Single Pot Still whiskey aged over an unprecedented 46 years and captured the traditional signature style of the Old Midleton Distillery originally curated by Max Crockett. We were delighted to be able to donate all profit from this sale to our long-term charity partners Down Syndrome Ireland.
We were delighted to introduce our latest edition in the long-standing series of Celtic Whiskey Shop & Teeling Whiskey collaborations this year! We love working with our good friends at the Teeling Distillery to bring to you some very special whiskeys indeed and our latest Teeling 25-Year-Old Rum Cask was no exception! This mouth-watering single malt is an exclusive, limited-edition bottling that has been hand-selected by the team here at Celtic Whiskey Shop. It has aged in rum barrels for 25 years before being decanted from cask number 100135. It's a robust cask strength of 50.2% and boasts a sweet, fruity taste with a rich, toffee aroma and a lingering, woody finish.
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Celtic Whiskey Fest 2021
This year to fill the void that was left with no Whiskey Live we decided to launch a fully online whiskey tasting festival - Celtic Whiskey Fest 2021. We were joined by exciting guest speakers from distilleries near and far over a full 14-day stretch. We tasted the rare and the wonderful as well as the yet-to-be-released and fan favorites. We were delighted to bring these tastings to homes all over the world. A huge thanks to all who joined us at the first ever Celtic Whiskey Fest!
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The idea for Drams Delivered was born deep in the depths of lockdown. We wanted to create a place for people to go and try their dream whiskies, but from the comfort and safety of their own homes. With that, we decided to open up our huge whiskey range from Celtic Whiskey Bar & Larder in Killarney in the form of an online store: Drams Delivered! Our bar has always been a mecca for whiskey lovers with over 1,200 whiskies now available for you to order to your doorstep! You can now shop our entire bar, we pack it up and send you the perfect 3cl size measure of your whiskey of choice. Drams Delivered launched in early November and we are overwhelmed with the response, so thank you to anyone who has purchased with us in the last two months.
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Icons of Whisky 2022
Every year the global publication, Whisky Magazine, holds the Irish awards competition that recognises the best the Irish whisk(e)y industry has to offer. We were beyond delighted to see Celtic Whiskey Shop was crowned the winner Single Outlet Retailer of the Year 2022, Online Retailer of Year 2022. Founder and managing director Ally Alpine was also awarded the Highly Commended award for Whiskey Buyer of the year. To top it off Celtic Whiskey Bar & Larder picked up Whiskey Bar of the Year as well as Head Chef Jason Nolan being the first-ever Chef of the Year to be crowned at the Icons of Whisky Ireland. Bartender, Evan O’ Connor also picked up a Highly Commended award in the Bartender of the Year category.
Managing Director Ally Alpine said, ‘We are honoured and very proud to win the awards for Best Single Outlet Retailer in 2022 for the fifth year running and for Online Retailer of the Year, as well as the fantastic achievements of Chef, Jason Nolan and the Celtic Whiskey Bar & Larder. These awards are an extremely high level of recognition for our store and bar and after a very challenging year it has been great to have the support from our customers and members of the industry.”
As you may know Whiskey Live will be back in 2022, we can’t wait to see you all in person again soon! We would like to extend our sincerest gratitude for all your support over what has been a difficult year for all. We hope to raise a glass to 2022 with you all soon!
