{"id":4546,"date":"2018-03-21T19:27:53","date_gmt":"2018-03-21T23:27:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/?p=4546"},"modified":"2018-03-21T19:29:04","modified_gmt":"2018-03-21T23:29:04","slug":"powers-gold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/2018\/03\/21\/powers-gold\/","title":{"rendered":"Powers Gold Label"},"content":{"rendered":"

Powers Gold is another one of the common entry-level Irish whiskies, like Jameson<\/a>, Bushmills<\/a> or Tullamore Dew<\/a>.\u00a0 I’ve been curious to try it for awhile, as I am a big fan of the higher-end Powers 12 year old John’s Lane<\/a>. I’ve also heard positive things about Gold, compared to the similarly priced Irish blends listed above.<\/p>\n

Like many Irish whiskies at this price point, Powers Gold is a blend of pot still and grain whiskies. It is believed to be aged for 5-6 years in ex-bourbon barrels.<\/p>\n

Bottled at 42.3% ABV, Powers Gold sells for $40 CAD at the LCBO (after a recent price increase). This makes it at least $5 more expensive the the competition listed above. Is it worth the differential?\u00a0 Let’s see what the Meta-Critic Database has to say:<\/p>\n

2 Gingers Irish Whiskey: 8.05 \u00b1 0.34 on 3 reviews ($$)
\nBushmills Original Blended: 7.67 \u00b1 0.45 on 17 reviews ($$)
\nBushmills Black Bush: 8.38 \u00b1 0.38 on 22 reviews ($$)
\nGlendalough Double Barrel: 8.24 \u00b1 0.34 on 7 reviews ($$)
\nJameson Irish Whiskey: 7.83 \u00b1 0.42 on 21 reviews ($$)
\nKilbeggan Irish Reserve Malt Whiskey: 7.97 \u00b1 0.46 on 7 reviews ($$)
\nPowers Gold Label: 8.04 \u00b1 0.39 on 13 reviews ($$)<\/strong>
\nThe Irishman Original Clan Irish Whiskey: 8.14 \u00b1 0.24 on 4 reviews ($$)
\nTraditional Irish Whiskey: 7.69 \u00b1 1.04 on 8 reviews ($$)
\nTullamore Dew Blended: 7.84 \u00b1 0.36 on 19 reviews ($$)
\nWest Cork Original Irish Whiskey: 8.01 \u00b1 0.49 on 3 reviews ($$)
\nWriters Tears Pot Still Irish Whiskey: 8.49 \u00b1 0.32 on 19 reviews ($$)<\/p>\n

It certainly seems to be scoring better than those other entry-level whiskies – although of course, you can pay as much or a little more for an even higher scoring Irish whisky.<\/p>\n

I recently managed to try this in a bar in Dublin. Let’s see what I find in the glass:<\/p>\n

Nose<\/strong>: Almost sickly sweet, with a strong banana note (including green banana). Frankly, it could almost be a banana liquor. Dried fruit, with red berries in particular. Some citrus (orange peel). Vanilla. Hay. Unfortunately, I get a heavy acetone presence, which detracts for me.<\/p>\n

Palate<\/strong>: \u200eHoney dominates initially. Caramel adds to vanilla. Very ex-bourbon cask character. Cinnamon and nutmeg pick up now. Nutty. Seems lighter in mouth. Decent, but not a lot of character really.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Finish<\/strong>: Medium. First thing I notice lingering is the spice – a bit of pepper, light nutmeg. Caramel. A bit of sourness creeps in over time, but not bad.<\/p>\n

I would consider this equivalent to Tullamore Dew<\/a> in quality, and would rate them both the same at ~7.9 on the Meta-Critic scale.\u00a0 Drinkable, but nothing too exciting. Seems to have more pot still influence than Jameson<\/a>, and is also a definite step up from Bushmills Original<\/a>. But at this price point, you can’t beat the value of Bushmills Black Bush<\/a> (which remains my top pick for this entry-level Irish class)<\/p>\n

The only truly positive review I’ve seen is from Jim Murray (who often scores entry-level blends higher than their more premium versions). Otherwise, the most generally positive reviews (relative for the class) are from Nathan the Scotchnoob<\/a>, Josh the Whiskey Jug<\/a>, and Michael of Diving for Pearls<\/a>.\u00a0 More typical are Jason of In Search of Elegance<\/a>, Oliver of Dramming<\/a>, Chip the Rum Howler<\/a>, and Serge of Whisky Fun<\/a>. Somewhat below average are Richard the Whiskey Reviewer<\/a> and Ralfy<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Powers Gold is another one of the common entry-level Irish whiskies, like Jameson, Bushmills or Tullamore Dew.\u00a0 I’ve been curious to try it for awhile, as I am a big fan of the higher-end Powers 12 year old John’s Lane. I’ve also heard positive things about Gold, compared to the similarly priced Irish blends listed above. Like many Irish whiskies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5062,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[33,68,18,120],"class_list":["post-4546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-whiskies","tag-blended","tag-irish","tag-nas","tag-powers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4546"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5172,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4546\/revisions\/5172"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}