We spotted Michael Foggarty of the Celtic Whiskey Shop (and former manager of the whiskey bar at Brooks Hotel) on RTÉ television tonight. Nothing to do with whiskey though. Capital D, doing a special on Dublin Airport, followed him on one of his frequent runs across the water to support the Arsenal football team. Lots of tips for travellers but no mention of spirit deals in the Duty Free.

The programme page is here though the video is not yet available at the time of writing.

The company that owns Knappogue Castle whiskey, Castle Brands, is marking its ten year anniversary this year with the sale of ten six-bottle "Castle Collection" cases. A case contains a bottle of each vintage of Knappogue Castle released to date, ie one from each year between 1990 and 1995. Each bottle is signed by Mark Andrews, founder of Castle Brands.

The company is also releasing 60 bottles this year of Knappogue Castle 1951. This comes from the last stocks of Irish whiskey bought by Mark Andrews' father in the 1960s from the B. Daly distillery in Tullamore which ceased operation in 1954.

Knappogue Castle 1951 is a pure pot still whiskey, aged for 36 years in sherry casks. The suggested retail price is US$1,600.

Hot (or at least warm) on the heels of the Morrison-Bowmore Scotch tasting in February comes news of another chance to sample the output of a Scottish distillery.

This time it's the Isle of Arran distillery. Details are below.

Isle of Arran Whisky Tasting
Thursday, May 29th, 6.30-8.30pm
Brooks Hotel, Drury Street, Dublin 2.

Tickets are priced €20 and are available from the Celtic Whiskey Shop. Numbers limited to 30.

The tasting will be hosted by Jaclyn McKie.

Isle of Arran is a tiny, independent distillery that was set up in 1995. In 2006, they released their first 10 Year-Old bottling and in 2007 they triumphed over the big boys to pick the top industry award, "Scottish Distiller of the Year 2007" in the Icons of Whisky Awards run by Whisky Magazine.

They are also at the forefront of experimenting with maturation and finishing of the whiskies in different wood types. The quality of these single malts is reflected in the excellent reviews that the different expressions get in the Whisky Bible 2007. We'll try a selection of these on the evening.

Joe McMeekin very kindly sent me a couple of preview pictures of the new Danny Boy Irish whiskey. Bear in mind that this is a mock up of the final product so it might not look exactly the same when it's released. Joe expects the launch of this whiskey at the end of April or in early May. I'll post more details here when I get them.

Obviously it's an unusual bottle but it's quite an unconventional label too that eschews the usual understated, elegant, old-fashioned design typically associated with fine whiskeys.

It's not often we get a peek inside the Cooley distillery. No public tours are offered and TV programmes on whiskey prefer shots of waterwheels and old stone warehouses to the stark efficiency of this converted industrial alcohol plant.

But last night Nationwide, an Irish magazine-style television show, came from the Cooley peninsula and featured Ireland's only independent maker of whiskey.

It's a short piece, and not deep, but we get to see the fermentation, the pot stills, the bottling line and a few casks of maturing spirit.

(Thanks, Paudge, for the heads up!)