Powers Gold Label

3.25

The Bottle: Fairly straight-forward. The label isn't flashy or overstated, though it does contain a fair bit of good information about the contents of the bottle(pot still, triple distillation, non-chill filtered, etc.) In the Glass: It doesn't say that it's a natural color; but if there is any use of spirit caramel in here, I think that it's fairly restrained. The color is fairly brassy. On the Nose: Quite savory, actually. There's that typical "Irish Whiskey" thing going on, but it isn't as blatant as I've seen in some other blends. The barley is at the forefront with some of the honeyed notes sitting in the back. A hint of the typical "whiskey baking spices" in the background as well. This isn't terribly complex, but I also don't think that it's trying to be. Taste: There's practically no arrival to this stuff, it just moves straight into the development. It's kind of amazing how it goes from so little to so much in terms of flavor. The development is a lot of savory barley blended with cinnamon and sandwiched into layers of honey. That may sound kind of ridiculous, but this stuff does a good dry/sweet balancing act. It finishes with an astringency that has a nice bitterness lingering around the tongue. This is one of the better of the affordable Irish whiskeys out there that I've come across. It isn't overly sweet or overly processed and the "handcrafted" marketing on the label doesn't seem to be completely made of fluff(which is nice, for a change). This would be a perfect "session" kind of drinking whiskey for a gathering of friends around a card table. Good value for the money.