Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/271567
1 16 / the tasting panel / march 2014 says. They get feedback from distribu- tors and salespeople, and he has put together a team that seems to know how to build the buzz. "The other applicants were talented," he says, "but maybe not that interesting . . . My judge for hiring was, would I spend four hours in a car with this person?" Cole has the added appeal of having helped launch one of the top bars in New York. The Dead Rabbit was named the World's Best New Cocktail Bar in Tales of the Cocktail 2013, and it also made best-of lists compiled by Esquire, The Village Voice, CNN, CBS, Zagat and a bunch more. Plus, Herlihy, who's also based in New York, had befriended her when she was behind the bar, so he knew the kind of person he was getting. "This is definitely different," Cole says of being a Brand Ambassador," because I've been behind a bar since I was 16 years old"—which is perfectly legal in Ireland, she is quick to point out. She is also a graduate of the University of Ulster with a degree in marketing, and she knew she wanted to put her career on a different arc. Irish whiskey is on a different arc, too, one that hearkens back to the liquid's historic heyday. Before Prohibition, Irish whiskey ruled the world; 60 percent of any whiskey sold anywhere was Irish. That figure eventually dried up to almost nothing, but there's a big comeback story being written. And Herlihy, Maher and Cole have a hand in the script. PHOTO: JOHN CURLEY Gemma Cole talks whiskey with Janaye Bishop at The Underdog at The Growler in NYC. The Power of Three Evidence that three is the magic number, Tullamore D.E.W is the result of three grain varieties, three distillations and, ultimately, the blending of three types of Irish whiskey: pot still, malt and grain. First distilled in 1829 in the town of Tullamore, the whiskey has a rich history. Tullamore D.E.W. is named for Daniel E. Williams, who worked his way up from shoveling malt to General Manager (in 1887) and, eventually, owner of the com- pany, where he created the first blended Irish whiskey. Today, Tullamore D.E.W. is part of the William Grant & Sons portfolio. With a line that ranges from the Original, aged in ex-bourbon and -sherry casks, to the Phoenix, finished in old oloroso casks, Tullamore D.E.W. has proven itself to be an Irish whiskey legend. —Breanne DeMore