Here is something I have not reviewed in a while: a bourbon. My last bourbon review was posted all the way back in November 2022. That was a single barrel of 1792 bottled for Total Wine. Today I have for you something older, something in the genre that bourbon people refer to as “dusties”: bottles of older bourbon that sat around in stores for decades, gathering dust. This particular dusty is the 1985 release of Old Taylor. Rather than pretending that I know very much about the brand I am going to send you to the source of my sample to find out more about what may be in this bourbon. That source is Michael K. of the excellent Diving for Pearls blog (on the short list of the very best full-time whisky blogs still on the go). He has a head-to-head-to-head review of Old Taylor releases from 1985, 1987 and 1996 that goes into some detail into the history of the brand and the likely provenance of this whiskey and if you’re interested you should check it out. All I can tell you is what I think of it. Speaking of which… Continue reading
Tag Archives: Whiskey
Jack Ryan 11, “Haddington”
One last whiskey review for the month, and one last Irish whiskey review for the month (and probably for a good while). This is yet another Irish whiskey that I had not heard of before I purchased a miniature. And this is yet another case of my lack of knowledge not being due to the whiskey being obscure. Like Monday’s Lambay, Jack Ryan whiskeys, it turns out, are available in the US as well. So you probably don’t need me to tell you that there is no Tom Clancy connection to the label. Jack Ryan’s are a concern that bill themselves as “whiskey finishers”. By which they mean that they purchase spirit and age and mature it in their own casks. Many (most?) of their releases do appear to be finishes in a conventional sense: i.e they involve a final step of maturation in a cask type other than the one in which the rest of the maturation took place. And sometimes there’s more than two types of casks involved. They currently have a 5 yo released named Raglan’s Road that starts out in bourbon casks, continues in madeira casks and finishes up in imperial stout casks. You might say that’s a very busy life for a 5 yo but then you’d be a boring stick-in-the-mud like me. The release I am reviewing today is positively old-fashioned by comparison, being both 11 years old and only having passed through two types of casks: bourbon and then Guyana rum. It’s the second release in a series called the “Generations Trilogy”, all single malt whiskeys. The first was a 10 yo; this is 11 years old; and the one that came after was 12 years old. The 11 yo bears the additional appellation, “Haddington”. This is a reference to Haddington Road in Dublin, home to the Ryan’s Beggars Bush pub. So it’s a whiskey with a lot of information attached to it. But is it any good? Let’s see. Continue reading
Lambay Single Malt, Single Cask Strength
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. Continue reading
Writers’ Tears, Cask Strength
My week of Writers’ Tears reviews comes to an end with what is, I think, the third in their trio of core releases: the Cask Strength. (See here for my review of the Copper Pot and here for my review of the Double Oak.) Like the other Writers’ Tears releases, the Cask Strength is a blend of Single Pot Still and Single Malt Irish whiskey. There’s no grain whiskey component: only barley. Of course the presence of the pot still component, not to mention the triple distillation, makes it different from your average Scottish single malt whisky. Like the Copper Pot, this is matured in bourbon barrels, but I’m not sure if there is any other relationship between them. By which I mean that I do not know if the Cask Strength is the cask strength version of the Copper Pot or even if the whiskeys that go into the two comes from the same sources. I do know that the Cask Strength costs far more than the Copper Pot. The current release was at 150 euros at Celtic Whiskey Shop in Dublin. This review is not of the current release, however. That one is at 54.8% abv. This one is at 53%. A number of prior releases have been at 53%, most recently in 2019. All three of the miniatures I reviewed this week came out of the attractive book packaging—I don’t know if that helps narrow things down. At any rate, here are my notes. Continue reading
Writers’ Tears, Double Oak
This week I am reviewing three different releases from Walsh Whiskey’s Writers’ Tears label. The week got off to a decent start yesterday with the Copper Pot, their entry-level blend. Today I have for you a review of the Double Oak, which joined their core range a few years ago. It is so-called because it is a blend of spirit matured in American oak and French oak casks. What the proportion of the two in the blend is, I don’t know (I am assuming that it’s not all double-matured in the two cask types). Like in the Copper Pot, the spirit that goes into this is triple-distilled and is a blend of single pot still and single malt Irish whiskey. It gets a step-up in abv from the Copper Pot, being bottled at 46%. As with the Copper Pot, there is no indication of age. It’s probably safe to assume we’re not dealing with an abundance of age here. Okay, let’s see what it’s like.
Writers’ Tears, Double Oak (46%; from a miniature)
Nose: Orange peel, vanilla, polished oak. On the second sniff there’s some apricot and the vanilla moves in the direction of butterscotch. Not much change with time. A drop or two of water and there’s more citrus at first and then a metallic note. Continue reading
Writers’ Tears, Copper Pot
After exactly six weeks in Ireland—five of those in Dublin—we are headed back to Minnesota tomorrow. Regardless, I am going close the month out with an extended run of reviews of Irish whiskeys. Last week I reviewed a threesome from three different producers. Two were entry-level blends (The Irishman: The Harvest and the West Cork distillery’s Black Cask); and one was a peated single malt (W.D. O’Connell’s Bill Phil). This week’s whiskeys are all from the same producer. Walsh Whisky are the ones who put out the Irishman series. That series has quite a few releases in it at this point and the same is true of their better-known line, Writers’ Tears. I’ll be reviewing three from that line this week: the Copper Pot, which is their entry-level blend, bottled at 40%; the Double Oak, which steps up a bit in price and abv at 46%; and finally the Cask Strength, which is priced as a premium whiskey. First up, the Copper Pot. This is a blend of single pot still and single malt Irish whiskey, all of it distilled from barley. It’s all triple-distilled and unpeated and the maturation is in “flame charred” bourbon casks. No word on the likely age of the pot still and single malt constituents. Draw your own conclusions. Continue reading
West Cork, Black Cask
Irish Whiskey Week 2 has gone pretty well so far. On Monday I reviewed W.D. O’Connell’s Bill Phil, a peated whiskey that I quite liked. On Tuesday I reviewed a blend from Walsh Whiskey: The Irishman: The Harvest. While I didn’t give that one a very high score in the abstract, I thought it was very good for what it is: an entry-level blend. Here now is another entry-level blend. This one is from West Cork Distillers and unlike the other two, which are both sourced whiskeys, it is actually made by West Cork. Or so I assume anyway: they do have their own distillery and it produces a fairly large volume of spirit. As per their website, they have eight pot stills and two column stills and have the capacity to produce 4 million liters of spirit per year—though it’s less clear how much they actually produce. (They also bill themselves as the largest fully Irish-owned distillery in Ireland but that’s neither here nor there.) The Black Cask is comprised of 66% grain and 34% malt whiskey. It’s called the Black Cask because after three years of maturation in first-fill bourbon casks it spends another year in heavily charred bourbon casks. Quite a bit more grain in the blend than I would prefer and I’m always given pause by heavily charred bourbon casks and the potential for the contents to turn into vanilla bombs. Has that happened here or does the char tame the grain and youth? Let’s see. Continue reading
The Irishman – The Harvest
I quite enjoyed the first of this week’s trio of Irish whiskeys. That was yesterday’s Bill Phil from W.D. O’Connell. That was a heavily peated, single malt from an undisclosed distillery (probably Great Northern). Today I have a blended whiskey from Walsh Whiskey. Walsh Whiskey are blenders who produce two lines/brands: The Irishman and the more famous Writers’ Tears. I confess that I am not really sure what the distinction between the two lines is supposed to be. At any rate, there are a number of labels in each line. Currently, there seem to be six different iterations of The Irishman. Today I am reviewing what I think is the entry-level whiskey in the line: the Harvest. This is a blend of triple distilled whiskeys: 70% single malt and 30% single pot still, all matured in bourbon barrels. What the sources of the single malt and single pot still spirit that goes into the blend are, I don’t know. I don’t expect an entry-level blend to be anything very out of the ordinary but I am hoping that it won’t be extraordinarily bad. Let’s see. Continue reading
Bill Phil, Peated Series (W.D. O’Connell)
The last in last week’s series of madeira cask whiskies was a Teeling. It wasn’t the best of the week but I liked it. And so, even though my first week of Irish whiskeys this summer didn’t go so well (three other Teelings: here, here and here), I’ll take a chance with another week. This time it’s all whiskeys and producers I knew nothing about till I purchased these miniatures from the Celtic Whiskey Shop in Dublin. First up, is something called Bill Phil from W.D. O’Connell. W.D. O’Connell are independent bottlers who release a wide range of sourced whiskeys under their own labels. Bill Phil—the name refers to someone in the owners’ family history—is a batched release of heavily peated, triple-distilled single malt whiskey. People who know more than me say the source is probably the Great Northern Distillery. Full bottles have the batch numbers printed on the labels. This miniature does not. The current batch is Batch 5. Seems likely, I guess, that this would be from that batch but it’s hard to say for sure. (Batch 4 was released in the US apparently.) All the batches are matured in first-fill bourbon barrels. The peating level is all the way up to 55 ppm, by the way. Okay, let’s see what it’s like. Continue reading
Teeling 18, Madeira Cask (for Binny’s)
Madeira cask whisky got off to a very good start on Monday with an Inchmurrin 13 bottled by the SMWS. It took a step back on Wednesday with a 5 yo Kilchoman. Today I have for you a review of a whiskey as old as the other two put together. Will it end the week on a high note? On the one hand it was a Binny’s selection—usually a good sign. On the other hand, it’s a Teeling and my recent experiences with Teeling were not positive (see here, here, and here). Of course, those three whiskies from their core range have no necessary relationship with this one. Most of these Teeling releases are sourced whiskies. Well, I’m not sure about the miniature of the Single Malt that I reviewed: their own malt whiskey is of age to be bottled. But this 18 yo is definitely sourced as there was no Teeling distillery 18 (or 21) years ago (this was bottled in 2020 from a single cask). Nor do I know if this was a full-term maturation or a finish. I can tell you, though, what I think of it. Continue reading
Teeling Single Malt
My week of reviews of whiskeys from Teeling got off to a very shaky start on Monday (with the Single Grain) before looking up on Wednesday (with the Small Batch). Will the upward trajectory continue with the Single Malt? This miniature was purchased, along with the others, at the distillery last week. I assume it represents the current release. If so, it’s a true Frankenstein’s monster of a whiskey, put together from spirit that was fully matured in sherry casks and spirit that received finishes in cabernet sauvignon, white burgundy, madeira and port casks. I’m not sure, however, what the makeup is in terms of age. When the Teeling Single Malt was first released the oldest whiskey in the vatting was said to go back to the 1991 vintage. Is that still true? Or do they have older whiskey from some other distillation year in there? I would assume they would have wanted to maintain consistency. The other question, of course, is whether at some point this release will turn to using only the malted whiskey currently being distilled on premises. If so, that will be a much younger whiskey. I’ve not been able to find—from desultory googling, I will admit—much information on the current and projected composition of Teeling’s releases and the plans for their own distilled spirit. If you know more about all of this, please do write in below. Continue reading
Teeling Small Batch
Living very close to the Teeling distillery, as we currently are, I decided to do a week of reviews of Teeling’s core lineup. Things got off to a very shaky start on Monday with the Single Grain, which I really did not like. Here now is a review of the Small Batch, which is a blend of grain and malt whiskey. As to whether the grain whiskey that goes into this blend is the same as the grain in the Single Grain, I do not know. Nor am I sure of whether the malt whiskey in it is that distilled by Teeling themselves. I assume the odds are decent that it is as the Teeling distillery has now been open for about eight years. The whiskey itself is NAS and if there’s been any indication made about its purported age, I am unaware of it—I haven’t followed whisky marketing for many years now, and even when I did I was not very up on the Irish whiskey scene. As with the miniature of the Single Grain I reviewed, there’s some variance between this miniature and the Small Batch as currently described on the distillery’s website. There it is said to be finished for up to 12 months in rum casks; this label definitively notes a 6-month rum finish (after initial aging in bourbon casks). As to whether the duration of the finish varies from batch to batch, I do not know. I’m also beginning to wonder if there are any Teeling releases that don’t involve maturation or finishes in non-traditional casks. Continue reading
Teeling Single Grain
Well, this wasn’t on the list of potential reviews for July but as I am in Ireland for a spell, it seems appropriate to review some Irish whiskey; and as I am living in Dublin, only 10 minutes walk from the Teeling distillery, it seems all the more appropriate to review something from Teeling. I’ll do you two better: I’ll review three Teeling whiskies this week. Mind, they won’t be anything very exotic. I went over to the distillery a couple of days ago and while they do have a distillery exclusive release, it involves red wine casks and I’m not buying a full bottle of a red wine-bothered whisky without tasting it first. I might yet do so at their bar—but that might depend on what I make of this week’s trio. All of them are whiskies from Teeling’s core portfolio and you don’t have to come to Ireland to drink them—they’re all available in Minnesota. While at the distillery I purchased what they call their “Trinity Pack”, three 50 ml bottles of their Single Grain, Single Malt and Small Batch. First up is their Single Grain, which is a NAS whiskey that is, I think, also a sourced whiskey. My understanding is that the Teeling distillery is only set up to distill single malt and that the grain whiskey—and for that matter, most of the other stuff they put out—is sourced whiskey of one kind or the other. Those who know more about the ins and outs of Teeling should feel free to correct or add detail. Continue reading
Redbreast 12 CS, 2020 Release
Non-single malt whisky week continues. On Monday I reviewed a Panama rum finished in an ex-Ardbeg cask. We’re not so far from Islay today either. Well, okay, Midleton is in Cork, in southern Ireland and it’s not exactly a quick boat ride to Islay—but we’re in the general geographic vicinity. In all other ways though today’s whiskey is quite some distance from both Panama rum and Ardbeg’s single malt. I last reviewed the Redbreast 12 CS in 2016. That review was of a bottle from 2011. Today’s review is of a bottle from 2020. I was not terribly enthused by that 2011 release but it’s fair to say that Irish whiskey as a category has not generally moved me. This is almost certainly not Irish whiskey’s fault; my palate and preferences are very much formed by the character of Scottish single malt whisky and it’s probably the case that I just don’t get Irish whiskey. I do like fruity whiskies though and by all accounts this is a fruity one. Let’s see if that makes the difference. Continue reading
Jameson Irish Whiskey, Bottled Early-Mid 1980s
On Monday I had a review of a malt whisky from a relatively unknown Taiwanese distillery. Here now is a review of a whiskey from the most famous brand name in Ireland: Jameson, made at the Midleton distillery. What do they have in common? Nothing other than the fact that neither is Scottish.
I know very little about Irish whiskey and have reviewed very few Irish whiskies. And I’ve not had very good luck with the few Jamesons I’ve reviewed. Those were all contemporary releases, however, whereas this one was bottled sometime in the early-mid 1980s. I assume it was still made in the same way then, as a blend of grain and pot still whiskey. You are doubtless sick of hearing Scotch whisky geeks go on about how much better single malts and blends were in the 1970s and 1980s. Was the same true of Irish whiskey? Let’s see what this one indicates. Continue reading
Knappogue Castle 12 (for The Party Source)
This is the week of reviews of things that are not single malt Scotch whisky, I started off on Monday with a whisky that is almost single malt Scotch Whisky: Old Perth 21, 1996, a blended malt, i.e a blend of two malt whiskies. Today we leave Scotland completely but don’t go very far. Just across the water to Ireland.
Knappogue Castle is not a distillery, it is a brand. There actually is a castle called Knappogue Castle and it is in fact owned by the people who release Knappogue Castle whiskey but there is no distillation happening there—though you wouldn’t know this if you read the “Process” page on their website. Instead, the company purchases pot still whiskies from other distilleries and releases them under their label. I’m not sure if their whiskey is even sold in Ireland. The “Store Finder” map on their website shows only retailers and bars in the US. Perhaps someone who knows more about the brand—possibly even the source of my sample, the Marvelous Mr. Michael (see his review here)—can fill in the particulars. All I can tell you for sure is what I think of it. Ah yes, this was specially bottled for The Party Source in Kentucky, hence the 6 extra points of abv over the regular 40% 12 yo. Continue reading
Cooley 21, Peated (Cadenhead)
I know very little about Irish whiskey and I’ve not had very good luck with most of the Irish whiskies I’ve tried (and reviewed). I don’t know much about the Cooley distillery but am hoping this 21 yo will continue my recent positive Irish experience with the Redbreast 15 and be better than the last product of the Cooley distillery that I’ve reviewed (this Teeling). Okay, what do I know about Cooley? I know they make Tyrconnell and Connemara and are the source of a terrible whiskey with a Minnesota connection: 2 Gingers. Connemara is their peated line and presumably this Cooley 21 is basically what would be super-aged Connemara if released officially. I say this because I’m not aware of the distillery itself releasing whiskey under a Cooley brand. This one was bottled by the estimable Cadenhead of Campbeltown, Scotland. It was bottled in 2013 from a single bourbon barrel and was very well-received. Let’s see what it’s like. Continue reading