Here's my quick summary.
Irish is most similar to scotch in that the prominent ingredient is barley. But with Irish, thanks to a tax placed on malted barley way back when, they started mixing malted and unmalted barley (green barley). Irish, like scotch, can take many forms. The most common is pot still. This requires minimum 30% malted barley, minimum 30% unmalted barley, and no more than 5% of any other grains. Must be made in a copper pot still. Has to be double or tripled distilled. Scotch is usually double distilled. The triple is most common for Irish and is said to make it sweeter and smoother. Like scotch, and opposite of bourbon, the filtering removes a lot of the byproducts of the grain. Whereas bourbon will retain a lot of flavor, scotch and Irish remove that stuff. A lot of the higher end Irish is single malt, just like scotch, but blends are a lot more common. Barrel finishing is also common. You are most likely to find honey, cereal, and light fruit flavors in Irish.
The value is usually better as well.
Red Spot can easily compete with Scotch twice its price. You can get 12 year Irish for $35-$50 that competes with the likes of Dalmore 12, Aberlour 12, and Macallen 12. Some of the top Irish are some of the best I've ever had.
Irish is most similar to scotch in that the prominent ingredient is barley. But with Irish, thanks to a tax placed on malted barley way back when, they started mixing malted and unmalted barley (green barley). Irish, like scotch, can take many forms. The most common is pot still. This requires minimum 30% malted barley, minimum 30% unmalted barley, and no more than 5% of any other grains. Must be made in a copper pot still. Has to be double or tripled distilled. Scotch is usually double distilled. The triple is most common for Irish and is said to make it sweeter and smoother. Like scotch, and opposite of bourbon, the filtering removes a lot of the byproducts of the grain. Whereas bourbon will retain a lot of flavor, scotch and Irish remove that stuff. A lot of the higher end Irish is single malt, just like scotch, but blends are a lot more common. Barrel finishing is also common. You are most likely to find honey, cereal, and light fruit flavors in Irish.
The value is usually better as well.
Red Spot can easily compete with Scotch twice its price. You can get 12 year Irish for $35-$50 that competes with the likes of Dalmore 12, Aberlour 12, and Macallen 12. Some of the top Irish are some of the best I've ever had.