
March 18, 2016

Eight Irish, for the better or…

Isn’t it amazing that while the owners have been doing a good job in recent years, it’s the indies, especially some Germans, that managed to push Irish whisky (yeah, whiskey) nearer to, or even above the 90-mark? Or is it just me? But we’ll have some rather young ones today, so nothing is totally secure, as they say in scuba diving… (sorry, was meant to post all this on St Patrick Day).

Glendalough 7 yo (46%, OB, Irish, single malt, bourbon barrel, +/-2015)

This is sourced double-distilled malt whisky – probably ex-Cooley – by the new Glendalough Distillery. Good idea to have some whisky to sell when you’re just starting. Colour: gold. Nose: nice! Certainly Irish, with this very peculiar blend of ripe bananas, copper, shoe polish, and overripe apples. The whole’s clean, not immature at all, and nicely balanced, not over-fruity, not too dry. Mouth: it may be a tad rough now, but apples, bananas and guavas come in abundance. It’s also funny that while this is double-distilled single malt, it’s got something Midletonian, and certainly ‘pot still’. Perhaps these notes of metal (copper again) and herbal teas (rosehip for sure). I find it really good. Finish: rather long, with much more vanilla, and a bitterer aftertaste (cinnamon and green tea). Comments: very very fine. Curious to see if the distillery’s own make will be in the same cluster when mature. SGP:641 - 81 points.

Glendalough 13 yo (46%, OB, Irish, single malt, bourbon barrel, +/-2015)

Colour: gold. Nose: this one’s grassier and a notch smokier at first nosing, with less bursting fruits, and more teas, a floral side (honeysuckle), and whiffs of ‘fern and broken branches under the rain’. Mouth: more in the vein of the 7, but with more apple peelings, definitely guavas, papayas as well, then a feeling of cedar wood and cinnamon. Some green melon, a touch of white pepper and cinnamon, and then more herbal teas. Chinese gunpowder (the tea). Finish: rather long, leafier and more herbal than other Irish. A little green oak, perhaps, and more green pepper in the aftertaste. Comments: another one that I’m finding very good, very ‘modern Irish’, but with less of the extravagant fruitiness that can be found elsewhere. SGP:551 - 83 points.

Glendalough ‘Poitin Sherry Cask Finish’ (40%, OB, Irish, +/-2016)

This, I believe, is Glendalough’s own make. The idea of a finishing on some white spirit is a little strange but after all, I think Glenglassaugh already did that. Not sure they’ve been using potatoes as well as grains for this one, as was traditional in Ireland. Colour: bronze gold. Nose: oh no, this works. It’s got some rye character, plenty of bread of various sorts, and then rather caraway and a kind of spicy earthiness that works very well. Feels ‘American craft’ if you ask me. Mouth: we’re between Scandinavian aquavit and rye whisky as well, the only part that troubles me a bit is this rather huge chocolaty and raisiny side, probably from the sherry cask. But the whole does work a treat. Finish: medium, on chocolate and soft curry. Comments: a good surprise. As usual, a higher strength would have been welcome, but this sure is a very good baby whisky. I think I like it just as much as the sourced 13 yo, to tell you the truth. SGP:452 - 83 points.

Glendalough ‘Mountain Strength Poitin’ (60%, OB, Irish, +/-2016)

Please fasten your seatbelts… Colour: white. Nose: yeah! A raw, pearish, grassy, and rooty white distillate. I can’t find any potatoes, but I do seem to find… wait, beetroots? Celeriac? With water: plain new make, as you will find in most Scottish distilleries as well. Mouth (neat): it is, of course, new make. Raw, spirity, alcohol-sweet, with the same touches of pears and beetroots as in the nose. As they say in the old French movie Les Tontons Flingueurs (English: Crooks in Clover, also known as Monsieur Gangster), ‘I used to know a Polish girl that used to take this for breakfast’. Ha! With water: this is almost good. Earthy apples and pears plus a good deal of saccharin. Finish: medium, on the same sugary flavours. Comments: a bottle to have in your bar, to show to your friends that whisky doesn’t run out of the still golden. SGP:520 - 75 points (yeah, more or less).

Single Irish Malt 13 yo (46%, William Cadenhead, +/-2016)

Colour: white wine. Nose: do you like bubblegum? Custard? Haribo’s maddest sweets? Green tea? Patchouli? Hay? This is for you then. Mouth: we’re really not far from Glendalough’s 13 years old. Grasses, melons, green tea, vanilla, perhaps a little tangerine, pineapple… Finish: medium, fruity, fresh, always a notch ‘Haribo’. Comments: those notes were short, I have to apologise for that. It’s just that this little Irish was simply very good and very easy. Goes down well. Not to sip while watching TV, or you’ll kill one full bottle before the end of the film. Two if it’s Haneke. SGP:551 - 83 points.

Irish Single Malt 2001/2016 (48.3%, Maltbarn, bourbon, 167 bottles)

Colour: straw. Nose: it’s one of the fruitier ones, it seems. A Cuban breakfast (oh come on), with papayas, pineapples, and guavas. No rum, no cigars. A quite superb soft spiciness in the background, with some cinnamon, caraway, and aniseed. The aniseed tends to come to the front, giving it a slight pastis-y side. Does that mean that this comes from Pernod-Ricard’s Midleton Distillery? I think not… Mouth: very good, easy, sweet, slightly honeyed, with more tropical fruits and a faint sour side that goes well here. Cider apples? Finish: medium, grassier. Apple peel, banana skin… Some white pepper in the aftertaste. Comments: an excellent middle-aged Irish. Perhaps not as wham-bam as the ones from the late 1980s or early 1990s, but we’re getting there. SGP:651 - 85 points.

Teeling 13 yo 2002/2015 (54.2%, Single Cask Collection, bourbon hogshead, cask #8310, 271 bottles)

Colour: straw. Nose: akin to the Maltbarn. Perhaps a notch more on western orchard fruits. Apples, pears, gooseberries, greengages… Some lightish acacia honey as well – from Hungary, they have the best. No wonder this bottler is Austrian. With water: very clean. Fresh fruity and floral butter from the Swiss Alps (now wonder the bottler is…), syrups, honeys… Mouth (neat): a rounded, ueber-fruity Irish, full of honey, maple syrup, papayas, pears, melons, and perhaps bananas. But the pears tend to take the lead. So does vanilla. With water: it’s the grass that comes out, together with marshmallows and fresh pineapple. Finish: medium, sweet, fruity, easy. Some bitterer grass in the aftertaste. Comments: same high quality as the 2001 by Maltbarn, same score. You got to be coherent in life, every now and then. SGP:651 - 85 points.

Irish Single Malt Whisky 16 yo 1999/2015 (57.3%, Chapter 7, rum cask, cask #5409)

This one was aged in a rum cask, not just finished. And I’ll say it again, I love these labels that are not overdone. This is whisky, it’s not the Follies Bergères or the Tropicana, and Mucha is dead and buried! Colour: pale gold. Nose: something must have happened in 2000 in Ireland. Indeed, this is rather more refined, elegant, and subtle than all the others. Superb notes of sunflower oil, light honeys, agave and cane syrups, tangerines, mangos, dandelions, pollen… The others were lovely, this is superb. With water: more of the lovely same. The rum is hard to detect – maybe the cane syrup? Mouth (neat): yess, grapefruits to put it straight, then papayas, pineapples, mangos, passion fruits… Then a touch of Pinot Gris… It’s well in the style of the 1988-1992s. With water: even more so, even if a funny spicy oak kicks in. Cumin, perhaps, cloves, cardamom, ‘greener things’… Finish: medium, and definitely grassier, spicier, and greener. Reminds me of that trendy grass juice we used to drink in Germany in the 1980s… Oh forget. The aftertaste is sweeter again, though. White pineapples? Comments: not totally 90-material in my book – that’s rather 1988-1992 indeed – but we’re close. SGP:651 - 88 points.

Many more Irish soon on WF!