Irish whiskey substitutes

The most common substitution and a good one, because bourbon is also unpeated and also mostly corn-and-barley sweet. The difference is new charred oak: bourbon brings vanilla, caramel and a faint coconut note that Irish whiskey does not have.

Best for

Irish coffee, whiskey cake, caramel and toffee sauces, bread pudding, glazes for ham or ribs

Because bourbon reads sweeter, reduce added sugar by roughly a third in an Irish coffee or a whiskey sauce, then taste. In a savoury pan sauce the extra sweetness is usually welcome.

Closest in body and dryness. A standard supermarket blend such as a Speyside-based bottling has the same light grain character with a slightly drier, more cereal, faintly nutty finish, so the drink or sauce tastes a shade less rounded and more austere.

Best for

Irish coffee, Irish stew and pan sauces, marinades, flambe

Avoid anything peated or from Islay. Smoke concentrates hard when alcohol reduces, and half a tablespoon of a smoky single malt will make an entire cream sauce taste like an ashtray.

Canadian whisky is the nearest match on the shelf for Irish whiskey's lightness and easy sweetness, so it disappears into a recipe almost invisibly. Straight rye is a step further away: it adds a dry black-pepper edge that shows up most in cream and custard.

Best for

cocktails, cream sauces, chocolate desserts, deglazing a pan

If you use rye in a dessert, add a pinch more sugar or a little extra vanilla to soften the peppery finish.

A grape spirit rather than a grain one, so it brings raisin and dried-apricot fruit where whiskey brings cereal and honey. In a cake, a cream sauce or a fruit compote nobody will mind. In an Irish coffee it is noticeably fruity and the drink stops tasting Irish.

Best for

fruit cakes, cream and butterscotch sauces, poultry and pork pan sauces, poached fruit

Brandy flames well, so it is a fine one-for-one in any recipe that asks you to set the whiskey alight.

Sweeter and distinctly molasses-scented. In a coffee or a cream it turns the drink tropical, which is pleasant but obviously a different drink. In baking, where the whiskey is a background note, the swap is almost undetectable.

Best for

fruit cake and Christmas cake, bread pudding, chocolate desserts, hot toddies

Reduce any added sugar slightly. Dark rum carries its own sweetness in a way whiskey does not.

The honest answer is that there is no non-alcoholic substitute for whiskey, because most of what whiskey contributes is the alcohol itself and the volatile aromas it carries. Strong tea supplies tannin and a little bitterness, and vanilla supplies the oak-barrel note, which together give the same rough shape without the heat.

Best for

alcohol-free Irish coffee, cakes and puddings for children, glazes, recipes where whiskey is one small flavour among many

Expect a drink that tastes of sweet tea, not whiskey. If the recipe uses more than about a quarter cup of whiskey, the substitution will change the dish rather than replace an ingredient, and you may be better off choosing a different recipe.