- Kevin Dowling,

Green Spot Irish Whiskey for My Favo(u)rite Irish.

(Irish music playing)

Fáilte ar ais,

Welcome back to the bar.

Finally, I have "Kildare Kev" at the bar with me.

I've been wanting to get you here for months, Kevin.

And here we are with, oh, here it is.

Out it comes.

You're going to cover your Dublin Blue

with your Lilywhite shirt.

- That's right.

This is vintage.

This is from a ways back.

But, yeah, the Kildare.

- So we've got you at the bar.

We've got what, half a bottle of your favorite Irish.

- That's right.

- And we're going to have a chat.

- Sure.

- Thanks for taking the time to come to the bar.

So, Kevin Dowling, obviously very Irish name.

But, you're probably the least Irish looking person

that we've had on My Favo(u)rite Irish.

So, where's the ancestry?

- Yeah, I get the,

you don't look like a Kevin Dowling, a lot.

So, my dad is from Kildare Monasterevin, Kildare.

And then my mother's Mexican, Mexican-American.

So, there's six of us in the family.

- So, going to guess a little bit of Catholicism in there?

- Well I, Yeah, the Irish catholics.

It's actually not that uncommon a mix.

The Irish Mexican mix isn't that uncommon.

There's six of us in our family

and three came out more white, more Irish looking,

and then three came out darker, more Mexican looking.

I was one of the darker ones.

So, you got the, what could be referred to as, you know,

looking like the Black Irish.

- That's right, the Black Irish.

That's what it is...

- And I know your brother Mike, back in 2012.

- That's right.

- That's a long time ago now.

He came to our TEDxNapaValley event here.

And he's definitely got the Irish genes in the family.

- Yeah, so, he's lighter with brown hair,

but him and my brother Shane, the saying,

they'll get a red whisker, like in their eyebrow,

or they'll get the red hair a little bit.

So, it comes out.

- And I've known you for, goodness, it's at least 10 years.

- At least 10 years. Well, I moved here in 2011.

I think I met you in my first few months here or so.

- Yeah, so, I remember the first time we met,

we had a coffee down at Oxbow.

- At the Oxbow, yeah.

- It was meant to be a kind of a half hour coffee,

you know, get to know each other.

It didn't lead into like a five o'clock drink,

but, we were there for at least a couple of hours.

- Couple hours.

I remember it led into rugby pretty quick.

Some pretty good soccer stories there, so, yeah.

Lost track of time on that one.

- Yeah, and then ever since then,

we have had an annual tradition

where we go for a pint at Christmas.

- That's right.

At least a pint, but yeah.

- Yeah, we've done it at all sorts of venues

here in town.

We started at, I kind of grimace when I say this now,

down at Bilco's downtown.

- Well I remember the first one was at Bilco's, yeah.

- We've did it a number of times at Hop Creek

just down the road.

- That's right.

- And then last year I think we went down to,

do we go down to one of the breweries downtown?

- It was, no, just outside the Oxbow.

I think it's the new Fieldwork.

- That's right. - Just outside the Oxbow.

Really nice place.

- Yeah, so, a tradition that obviously we'll do again

this year.

- Sure.

- So, yeah, it's been fun seeing your kids grow up.

You've seen my kids grow up.

It's hard to believe your eldest is now off in college.

- He's, yeah, he is in his first year at college now.

- My eldest is apparently gainfully employed.

(both laughing)

So, yeah, it's been, I remember when I first met you,

neither of us had gray hair.

Now we both have gray hair.

- Geez, I don't know if it comes out on camera or not,

but it's definitely there.

- And I have to say a big thank you to you for,

I remember a number of years back

I helped you and Maria move.

It was a sweltering day.

You moved from...

- That's right.

... moved from Alta Heights on the east side

over here to the west side.

Helped you move, and you, a few days later you arrived

with a thank you.

- That's right.

- It was a bottle of Jameson Black Barrel.

- That's right. - It was a big bottle.

So, long before I started this journey,

we were obviously on the whiskey front.

- That's right, yeah.

I figured that was a good gift to give

to another Irish, kind of help me move.

So, I hope you enjoyed it.

Looks like you've expanded your collection quite a bit.

- Just a little.

- Just a little.

- So, yeah, it's been a fun few months

on the journey, obviously,

built the bar to accommodate all this

and slowly making my way through it.

So, back to your dad, Monasterevin.

- That's right.

- But, you're born and raised here in California, so...

- Berkeley, East Bay.

So, yeah, he came over,

my dad was the oldest of 16, there in Monasterevin,

and which is on the far west of Kildare,

almost right on the border with Laois.

He came over as a priest.

It was right around the late fifties, early sixties,

I think.

And he came over to Boston first,

and then I think he was in Minnesota,

and then ended up in Los Angeles,

where he left the priesthood,

and then met my mom down there.

And...

- So, did he leave the priesthood before he met your mom

or did he meet your mom and then leave the priesthood?

- I'm not sure of the sequence involved in that,

(heavy laughter from both)

but, that's another, fairly, since...

... I thought it was really unique.

But, I have a good friend whose dad,

similar story from Kerry,

came over from Kerry as a priest,

left the priesthood, and actually I've met another guy

since then, similar story.

- So, this kind of, you know, go west young man.

- That's right. - Land of opportunity.

We're not just talking about money making opportunity.

Obviously, your dad fell in love with your mom.

And you know, here we are today.

- That's right.

He moved up to the Bay Area

where he liked the weather a bit better than LA

and that's where we settled.

- It reminds you a bit more of the Emerald Isle.

- Yeah, exactly.

The fog, I think it's the fog, yeah.

- So, raised in the East Bay

and you've ended up here in Napa.

- That's right.

- And for work?

You and I both kind of are in and out of the wine business.

But, you're more in the wine business than I am, right now.

- That's right.

I work at wine company called Duckhorn Wine Company.

I've been there for about just under six years now

in the Marketing Department, so, love it here in Napa.

- What do you do for them?

- So, I'm the Vice President of Trade Marketing.

So, for those that don't know, in the wine industry,

you have to, there's a number of different steps

you have to go through to get wine into the market.

And going through the trade, the distributor level,

and going through the retailer level's one.

So, I manage marketing for that whole channel.

- Okay.

And the last couple of years have been through a pandemic.

How's it been?

- It's been really good actually.

We were fortunate enough that on the family side,

the boys were old enough, teenagers,

they could do the Zoom on their own.

My wife's a teacher, she could teach on her own.

On the work side, we did really well in pandemic.

People drank a ton of wine during the pandemic.

(Andrew laughing)

Geez, we would've made more sparkling,

but, we could've made more sparkling wine.

We couldn't have kept it.

People were going through that like crazy.

But, we survived the pandemic really well.

Kind of came out really strong out of the pandemic,

both on the family and the work front, So...

- And you're back to it now, I know,

because trying to squeeze you into my schedule was,

because you're off around the country.

- Yeah, tomorrow I'm off to Phoenix,

then Utah after that.

After that, then Kansas City, and then Texas,

and then New York, right around Thanksgiving.

So, the next two months are going to be pretty travel heavy.

- I'm glad I got you before you...

- No, this is awesome.

Thank you for having me.

- Yeah, no so, and you mentioned your wife Maria.

She's Mexican.

- She's Mexican, yeah.

- So obviously there's something about these Dowling men.

(laughs)

- Mexican...

- Well what's cool,

I don't know if you remember,

what's cool, Maria, she gets along with my family

in Ireland really well and my boys

are obviously really proud to be part Irish as well.

And they don't really like when I make them watch the soccer,

we're not too good in soccer now.

So, they get pretty bored with the soccer games.

But, if you remember the first time you came over

for St. Paddy's, she made a potato enchilada.

- Enchiladas, I know.

- That's right.

And I never had those before, but they were really good.

And in fact she shows most,

because she works at a bilingual school,

most of her students are bilingual.

She'll show them Darby O'Gill around St. Patricks.

That was a family tradition of ours

to watch Darby O'Gill around St. Patrick's.

So, she's embraced it quite a bit, which is good, yeah.

- And then over the years you and I,

we've done a few things together.

We've obviously watched each other's kids play sports.

And we've tried to play a bit of golf ourselves.

We went out down to Vallejo

for the Leprechaun Open this year.

- That's right, that's right.

- Yeah, I was proud to say that team of four,

we came last.

- Did we come in last?

(both laughing)

- Yeah, great morning.

- I think we were honest with the score though.

I'm not sure everybody else was honest

with the scoring though.

- You know, March obviously in Ireland

is a rough time to play golf.

It wasn't a great morning this year.

It was pretty chilly.

- It was pretty chilly.

I think it was drizzling a little bit at the beginning.

- Yeah, by the time we came through the turn

at about 10 o'clock, there was definitely a Jameson's had.

- There was definitely a Jameson's had

by the turn.

- And, and then we've watched a lot of sport over the years.

We've gotten up early in the morning

to watch soccer matches and rugby matches and...

- That's right.

We were streaming the Lions tour,

two in the morning one time.

- From Australia.

- Yeah, from Australia, that was right.

That's when we've got a World Cup next year from France,

which is going to be, which I think the kickoffs

will be not too bad for us.

- No, I think when it's in Europe

the kickoffs aren't too challenging.

Like the 6 nations, the kickoffs aren't too challenging

when it's in Europe, so that's good.

- So we could go off on a whole other video

about our prospects for the World Cup next year,

but, we'll save that for another time.

So, I suppose we should probably talk less and drink more.

We're here to talk about your favorite Irish whiskey.

Which is Green Spot.

So, for folks who can't see it.

It's on the back of the bottle here.

It says the 27th of April.

So, I started my journey in March,

got in touch with you and said I had this idea for videos,

and you said, well my favorite's Green Spot.

- That's right, yeah.

Out I went, bought a bottle, tasted a little bit of it,

then got sick, got sick again,

and came back to it a few months later.

And I found from tasting it in April to July,

it was a completely different whiskey.

And I, my first impression wasn't wowed by it, but I now am.

I now think it's a phenomenal whiskey.

You know, Redbreast is my go-to is I think you know.

You're Redbreast too.

- You're right, yeah.

- So, yeah, when I said let's do some My Favo(u)rite Irish,

you said, well let's go with some Green Spot.

So, let's give that a try.

So, it's funny, both of us working in wine,

it's a different world tasting whiskey.

- You could taste the oak quite a bit more on the,

well you could taste it in wine too,

but when you go wine, wine, wine, wine than to whiskey,

the oak is much more prominent on the, at least for me.

- Yeah.

What I love about, we're not doing,

going to do a kind of a tasting game here,

but, I love the kind of the fresh fruit character.

- Sure, yeah. A little bit of citrus on there too, yeah.

- To me there's a lot of people talk about apples and pears

in Green Spot.

And there's definitely some of that there.

- There's definitely a bit, a little Granny Smith in there,

a big green apple in there.

- There's not much you can say apart from, about it,

apart from just a great, great whiskey.

I love it.

- It is, a tiny bit of spice on there,

like a nice little spice overtone to it.

But, yeah, that's a great whiskey, right.

- You talk in terms of being a single pot still whiskey,

the spice character comes from the distillation.

So, that's where it comes from.

I remember when I tasted this, you know, a tasting note,

I kind of found cloves and black pepper in there.

Really, It's kind of, they're more headed

towards winter spice for me.

- It stays with you a bit too after you've had it.

No, that's really nice.

- Lovely, lovely.

So, when you're sipping Green Spot at home,

how do you drink it?

Neat?

- Neat.

- Well when it's, when it's single pot still,

like high end like that, I like to drink it neat.

And just sip on it for a while.

I'll put a ice cube in it from time to time.

Some of the other whiskeys as well,

to kind of cut it a little bit, open up the flavors.

Tends to get a little bit more fruity that way.

But, if it's like me and you

and we're just hanging out or just sipping it at home,

I'll drink it neat like this.

I like it that way.

- Yeah, and obviously we talked

about Green Spot and Redbreast.

Do you have any other bottles at home

that are go-to bottles, or?...

- Those would be the big two.

I've had Teelings there, while ago, tried Powers as well,

but, Green Spot and Redbreast would be the big two, yeah.

- And it's, I don't dunno if it's not a secret we can share,

but, this is $53 a bottle at Target.

- Sure, it's not that cheap yet.

- But, I've seen it in other places for $65 and $70.

So, yeah.

But, often, Kev, around here you'll open a bottle of wine

that costs $40, $50, $60, and you sell wine.

- Yeah, it's not uncommon.

- $80, a $100, a hundred and something dollars

for a bottle of wine.

You're not going to drink a bottle of whiskey in one sit,

well I would hope you're not going to drink a bottle

of whiskey in one sitting.

So, it's going to last a couple of weeks, a month.

- The alcohol percent's a little bit higher...

- Just a tiny bit.

...than wine. (mutual mirthful laughing)

- Just a touch.

- So, I'm going to drop in

just some five drops here or there.

Here, give you five drops, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Just a little bit of distilled water

just to see if it kind of opens up the nose and...

Yeah, I find that

it's almost like there's more berry character coming in now,

than apple.

- Yeah, that's quite a bit of fruit there.

It's definitely green fruit.

- And on the, well, here I am jumping ahead of you.

And on the palate, I find the spice has mellowed out.

And it's, you talk about bringing the fruit out

there a moment ago.

You're right.

Just the fruit's just, it's almost singing out of the glass.

- Yeah, that's nice right there.

Yeah, that's smooth.

You're right, it does, the spiciness has a little,

it's like when you sip it neat,

there's a little cut to it,

a little bit of an aftertaste on the spice.

But, that mellows out really nice

when you cut it with the water.

- So, you and I, we chatted, we've chatted a lot,

about text, and chatted about this tasting

and I thought, we're going to do Green Spot,

and for a little treat for Kev, I'll open,

maybe we've got some here.

We've got Green Spot Montelena,

we've got Green Spot Leoville Barton.

I actually brought.

I was back in Ireland there recently, got some Gold Spot,

but, I'm actually going to go one better and all of that.

And we've talked about your Mexican-Irish heritage.

So, you don't know this is coming.

So, there you go.

Right, hidden back here Kev.

You didn't see this one.

- I thought we were going to go step up on Green Spot.

(both laughing with gusto)

- So, you've talked about your Mexican Irish heritage.

And when you and I chatted on the phone during the week,

you mentioned that your brother Mike,

was considering getting a tattoo.

- Another one, yeah.

- So, Mike served in the Marine Corps.

- He was in Iraq, yeah.

- And Mike was going to get a tattoo of the Mexican...

- The San Patricio Brigade flag.

- Thank you.

- That's right, yeah.

That's the Irish, during the Mexican American War,

the Irish soldiers that defected from the US Army

to fight with the Mexicans.

- So, you told me that on the phone during the week,

and I didn't say anything to you.

But, I actually have an Irish whiskey

that is finished in Tequila casks.

- And in honor of the Mexican, sorry,

the San Patricio Brigade.

- That's cool.

- Brought it back. - That's really cool.

- Yeah, I actually,

we've had some of the other J.J.Corry whiskeys.

Which are fabulous, and I was able to pick this up

when we were back recently,

and I thought, no better place to open it.

We've obviously had some already.

I thought, yeah, Kev's in the house.

- Let's honor...

- All right, nice, that's awesome.

Thank you Andrew.

Yeah, that's just something I'm going to send you home

on some of this as well.

- Oh geez.

- Yeah, I'll keep the bottle but I'll decant some for you.

So, yeah, obviously, you know, smaller bottle,

a limited edition from J.J.Corry,

at 900 bottles of this.

Obviously a very different whiskey to the Green Spot,

but, I just thought, but, I have a Mexican Irishman

in the house, so I need to crack that, so.

Yeah, very different whiskey isn't it?

- That is, that's a nice toast

- Sláinte.

- Yeah, Sláinte.

We didn't do a Sláinte

the first time.

- Right, we're catching up now.

Oh, wow, there's not as much like vanilla caramel

as you would've got on that Green Spot there.

- Yeah, and obviously, we're we're comparing

chalk and cheese here, to a certain extent.

This is a beautiful single pot still Irish whiskey.

And J.J.Corry "bond."

So, they actually buy in the spirit agent in barrels.

And this is a blend of, I haven't even looked it up online.

So, single grain Irish, six year old

and matured in bourbon casks and finished

in the tequila cask

- No, this is really nice.

- So, I'm going to guess, to me tastes like

there's a nice sweetness right on the end,

and I'm going to guess that comes from the tequila casks.

- It must.

I don't know that much about

what the flavor from the tequila cask.

I don't know what would come off it,

but you definitely get a little sweetness here.

- Yeah.

I'm just waiting for you to say, hey Andrew, what's next.

- Yeah.

Are there any other surprises?

I don't have any other ethnicities in me.

I don't know if there's

another combination supposed to happen.

- Well you know, because to the credit

of the distillers and blenders back in Ireland.

They're using all sorts of casks to finish it.

- And Irish whiskey's booming now,

like all over the world.

It's such a growing market right now.

So, you would see that experimentation now

and expanding out new directions.

- It's, it's great to see.

To their credit, they're making the most

of all the opportunities they have.

And now it's a great time for Irish whiskey.

And obviously, you love your Green Spot.

I love my Redbreast.

But, there's a whole world of discovery out there, so.

Right.

Well, we need to finish these off,

and do it when the world isn't watching or listening to us.

So, we should... - That's Right.

Well, we have the World Cup coming up,

the soccer World Cup coming up here in a month or so,

so, maybe we'll... - Yeah, except though...

- We'll pick another team to follow.

(both laughing with gusto)

- And having just seen the draw for the Euros next year,

I'm guessing that...

- I know, I think we got France and the Netherlands.

Yeah, plus I think, was it Greece came out

of the fourth pot.

- Yeah, you're right.

Greece was the other one.

- So, apparently it's the certified group of death.

- Although we get a chance to get France back

for the Henri...

- Yeah, we'll see.

- We need to let that one go.

- Yeah, no kidding.

That was a while ago.

- Okay, great to have you here.

- Thank you Andrew.

- We've talked about it for ages,

so, great to finally have you.

So, we'd toast, Sláinte mhaith

and see you next time.

- Cheers.

- Cheers.

Yeah, I could drink this all day.

- Oh, that's good.

Really nice.

- Yeah, so fun.

Let's see the...

- Oh, it's got the skull on and everything.

- Yeah, no, it's fantastic.

There you go.

Lovely surprise.

- That's really cool.

Thank you Andrew.

This was awesome.

- Yeah, you're very welcome.

Very welcome.

- Are we cut?

- [Crew Member 1] Four, Five.

- [Crew Member 2] If you ever do something

that you don't like, just pause.

- Yeah.

- [Crew Member 2] And do it again.

- Okay, Yeah.

- [Crew Member 3] Pause, and do what I don't like again,

or pause and do gotcha.

- I gotcha.

- Thanks, Sandina.