Special to Rubrick: my hubby bought a bottle of Powers Irish whiskey. Is it any good?

Max: Don't hate me. I just edit,copy,,edit paste your Gaelic phrase into search box on Yahoo, and up jumped:

Sláinte chuig na fir, agus go mairfidh na mná go deo.'
Health to the men, and may the women live forever! ...
http://islandireland.com/Pages/folk/sets/toasts.html

Re:: my hubby bought a bottle of Powers Irish whiskey. Is it any good?

jackie, its terrible stuff, you don't want to be drinking it, give to me and i'll get rid of it for you..

jackie, its terrible stuff, you don't want to be drinking it, give to me and i'll get rid of it for you..

Hmmm. Do I smell a rat? {tongue]

Well, it's not...quite...as nasty as some whiskies I've tried. Hubby says it's very mild. I wouldn't know. It's definitely less nasty than bourbon, though that's not saying a whole lot.

Unfair, everyone!!! You go posting Irish translations and special requests to me on the one day when the whole of Ireland closes down and I have the good sense to be nowhere near my puter!! Yesterday was a bank holiday (to let us get over our hangovers) so I'm only back today.

Max, as confirmed above that is the correct translation for the phrase!!

Well, it's not...quite...as nasty as some whiskies I've tried. Hubby says it's very mild. I wouldn't know. It's definitely less nasty than bourbon, though that's not saying a whole lot.

Shame on you, Jackie! That's one of the finest triple-blended whiskeys about!! If you don't want it you can give it to me!! and Helen can help out, of course!

After Jameson, Powers is my favourite and then Black Bush, Bushmills and then Paddy. But Clontarf is grabbing my attention, and how!

Shame on you, Jackie!
Thought that would get a rise out of you! <eg>
I still cannot believe that a whole country closes up just because the banks do.

Dear Rubrick: I'll bet MaxQ would appreciate your giving clues how to pronounce his toast.

Well, since I've been asked.........

Sláinte chuig na fir, agus go mairfidh na mná go deo

Slawn-tcha quig nah fer, ah-gus guh mehr-fig nah mnaw guh joe

Wav file later (maybe)

And a question from La-La Land:

What exactly is a triple-blended whiskey? Triple-blended with what? Or does it mean blended three times?

All in the spirit of Gaelicquors,
WordWoozey

What exactly is a triple-blended whiskey? Triple-blended with what? Or does it mean blended three times?

The latter. For the uninitiated:

Whisky is the Scotch variety which comes from Scotland where all else is Scottish. Scotch is either single-malt or double-malt and is double-blended which means it has a rougher edge to the taste.

Whiskey is the Irish variety and is always triple-blended. Whiskeys tend to have a lighter hue than the Scotch variety and a smoother taste as a result.

The word whiskey comes from the Gaelic uisce beatha which translates as 'water of fire'.

Dear Rubrick,

I am still curious about the "blending" thing, because you didn't really answer WW's question in your post. (Blended with what? Blended, as in something else mixed in - or just Blended, as in stirred?)

In case anyone cares, in Canada, whiskey/whisky (I am not sure of the correct spelling here) means rye whiskey. AKA rye. If not drunk straight, then often in a "rye and coke".

Dear Rubrick,

Thanks very much for the information on triple-blended. You wrote:

The word whiskey comes from the Gaelic uisce beatha which translates as 'water of fire'.

...and I must ask, as others have, would you please give us the pronunciation of iusce beatha?

So, water of fire...and then the native Americans called it (probably rum?) firewater.

Bourbon regards,
WaterWater everywhere and not a drop to drink

I am still curious about the "blending" thing, because you didn't really answer WW's question in your post. (Blended with what? Blended, as in something else mixed in - or just Blended, as in stirred?)

Apologies. I thought that I did when I said 'the latter'. It means that it is triple-stirred and filtered. Nothing is ever added to whiskey to give it it's flavour. That is, nothing is added after the distillation process.

...and I must ask, as others have, would you please give us the pronunciation of uisce beatha?

Sure. Uisce Beatha - Ish-keh Bah-hah

Now I notice it - does anyone agree that Gaelicquor sounds a bit homo-erotic??

one of the finest triple-blended whiskeys about

Why bother? The finest whisky available, from the land of my grandmother, the Isle of Islay, is pure from all contaminants. Nothing but Laphroaig.

Well, there's some peat smoke in there but I'd hardly call that a contaminant.

are wonderful topics. last year there was a science report that (NYTimes science section, excert from Science mag) that put forward the opinion that the rise of agraculture was fostered by the knowledge of how to make beer.

and that all of civilation is based on man need to have a ready supple of beer.

early grain was ground, made into bread, the bread was dried, ground and feremted. somewhere along the way, someone discovered malting was as good as yeast for turning complex starches into sugars that could then be turned into alcohol.

late in the game, someone figured out how to distill.
first wine (brandywine, which comes from ??? for burnt or cooked wine) and soon also sorts of fermented liquids.

before brandy, in northern climates, people had used cold to distill. the apple brandy of france is just like americana "apple jack" distilled by freezing cider. the water in the cider freezes at 32°(f), but the alcohol is still liquid, drained off, and collected, it is a very high proof liquor.