An interview with the whiskey genius John Quinn where he schooled me on everything I needed to know about the honey coloured Dew that is Tullamore.KenyaBuzz: What is your favorite Kenyan ingredient to mix with Tullamore?

John Quinn: Tangawizi. It's nice and in any case, whiskey always goes well with a Ginger ale. I like to put a wedge of lemon in it. I like a whiskey sour too.KenyaBuzz: How do you know a good whiskey?John Quinn: It's very hard to find a bad whiskey. It depends on what you are looking for. If you like sweet drinks then you'll like a sweet whiskey. If you don't like sweet drinks then you will most likely not like a sweet whiskey and that will be a bad whiskey to you. With Tullamore whiskey, it's fruity and spicy complex drink, which is one of the reasons people like it when they drink it for the first time. It is also triple distilled making it smoother.KenyaBuzz: Tell me about the power of three and how it ties back to Tullamore DEW and why the power of three is important for whiskey lovers?John Quinn: What we have in the blend of Tullamore Whiskey is very unique. No other whiskey is made the way Tullamore is made. In Ireland we make three types of whiskeys and in Scotland they make two types of whiskeys. Grain whiskey and malt whiskey. We do both in Ireland and then a third one called pot still whiskey. The pot still is a kit, a sort of kettle that we use to make whiskey in Ireland. With pot still whiskey, we use 50% malted barley(barley that has germinated) and 50% raw barley. With malt whiskey, we use 100% malted barley. Tullamore Dew is a blend of malt whiskey, grain whiskey and pot still whiskey so you have three whiskeys in there. Each of those whiskeys has been distilled three times and we use three different casks in the maturation. We use casks that previously had bourbon whiskey, casks that previously Tullamore whiskey and casks that previously had sherry. The power of three is three different whiskeys, all triple distilled, all matured in three different casks before we blend them together.  It's more expensive to make but it's what gives it it's own personality.KenyaBuzz: What is the difference between brandy, scotch and Irish whiskey?

John Quinn: In order to make Irish whiskey or scotch whiskey, we make a beer. So whiskey is distilled beer and brandy is distilled wine. When we make the beer, we don't go to the stage of adding the hops in. We take barley, malted or unmalted and we grind it up and add hot water. The hot water opens up the sugars in barley and we get a really sugary liquid and then we add yeast. The sugars act as food for the yeast during fermentation to make the beer and it's about 9% alcohol at the time. We call that beer wash. The wash at 9% is what is distilled to make whiskey or scotch.KenyaBuzz: Does Triple Distilled mean you won't get a hangover in the morning?

John Quinn: With triple distillation, the third distillation takes away some of the higher alcohols. But you have to remember, a hangover is caused by dehydration so, if you have too much to drink the night before and you don't hydrate, then it will be rough for you in the morning. But, it's true that triple distilled will be better than double distilled if you are trying to avoid a hangover in the morning.