I’ve been back in Minnesota for almost a week now, but let’s do another couple of Irish whiskeys to close out the month. Here is another from a producer that I had not heard of before I bought a miniature at the Celtic Whiskey Shop in Dublin. I don’t mean to suggest that this indicates obscurity: indeed, Lambay is available in the US. It’s just that I know very little about the Irish whiskey scene, which seems to have expanded quite a bit in the last 10 years or so. As per their website, Lambay Whiskey launched in 2018. Lambay is not a distillery. All their whiskeys are sourced—where from is not mentioned, and nor have I seen a reference to age. The spirit is triple-distilled (always?), and then matured in bourbon casks before a final finish in cognac casks. Why cognac? The company is a collaboration between an Irish concern and Camus, the well-known cognac producer. Once in the cognac casks, the whiskey finishes maturing on Lambay Island (hence the name), just off the coast of Dublin. Their website lists some five regular releases. Of these, the Single Malt, Single Cask Strength is bottled not just at cask strength but from a single cask in each release. You would think this would make it easy to identify the release my miniature is from but there have been at least two casks bottled at 56.5%: casks 4613 and 2545. So it’s from one of those (or maybe another)—the label on the miniature does not list the bottling date or batch number. Anyway, let’s see what it’s like.

Lambay Single Malt, Single Cask Strength (56.5%; cognac finish; from a miniature)

Nose: Incense, sweet florals, spicy oak. On the second and third sniffs there’s some fruit mixed in with the floral notes: cherries, salted plums (is that a thing?). With a bit more air and time the cognac begins to come through with leather and dried apricot joining the party. A few drops of water and the incense expands and then makes room for more of the dried apricot.

Palate: Comes in as indicated by the nose. Hot at full strength; decent texture. With a fair bit of airing it becomes more approachable. The top notes are still the same: spicy oak, incense, dried fruit. Water makes it more approachable, makes the dried fruit sweeter and then makes it the top note.

Finish: Long. A bit indistinct at first and a bit of wine separation (well, winey notes as the cognac separates). Develops as on the palate and the wine separation mostly resolves. Develops as on the palate with water.

Comments: I liked the nose a lot from the get-go but the palate needed a lot of time and then water to be its best self. On the whole, this seems driven almost entirely by the cognac finish, which also effectively smooths over any rough edges from the (presumable) youth. No interesting character to recommend it but it is a very pleasant whiskey.

Rating: 86 points.