The Quiet Man - 8 year old Irish Single Malt - Review

Last month I brought you all an update regarding the release of two new expressions of Irish whiskey from a brand named "The Quiet Man".

Based in Derry City, "The Quiet Man" is the new brand of Niche Drinks ,who are planning big things with a £15 million distillery hopefully to be started later this year.

As I mentioned before, once up and running they shall be producing triple distilled malt whiskey that will be "as traditional and as authentic as possible" but, as with all of these new companies, the problem always remains of how to bring in the cash while building and waiting for your own whiskey?

The favoured route seems to be to buy up stock from other Irish distilleries, add your own touch and release under your own name.  And with "The Quiet Man" this business model is no different.

For some years now Niche Drinks been buying, and maturing, grain and malt Irish whiskey, both new make and already partially matured.  It is from these stocks of matured whiskey that they have released their two new expressions, which are a standard blend and an 8 year old Single Malt.

It is the latter of these two that I shall be focussing on this time around.

As a direct result of many years of successful business within the drinks industry, Niche Drinks have managed to build up long standing relationships with some of the most successful Bourbon producers.  This has allowed them to get their hands on some of the best casks straight from the Bourbon industry. They are obviously planning to use these to great effect and have done so already in the release of this 8 year old.

Previously matured for some years, at another distillery, this 8 year old has enjoyed the benefit of some time in a first fill Bourbon cask and you can certainly notice this when enjoying a glass.

On a slight downside though this whiskey has been bottled at 40% ABV, chill filtered and probably been enhanced with a little E150a.

Hopefully this won't detract from it too much...

Onto my notes:

Nose - Unmistakably Cooley.  Very smooth and very much like Greenore Single Grain.  Fresh fruits, banana, lemon, dusty light orange and apple are all present.  Smooth, soft oak vanilla and light cereals.  The malt is not big and beefy but soft and easily approachable.  With time the tropical notes, with which I've associated Cooley for some time, appear in the form of pineapple and coconut milk.

Palate - Malty arrival that's accompanied by a big peppery, chilli kick.  Thankfully the heat doesn't overpower the spirit and without water the citrus just shows through with dry oak and some more vanilla.  With water the orange comes out on top with clove spice and more creamy oak.

Finish - Medium length with dry spices and fresh fruit with cream.

Overall this is a very enjoyable dram with it's roots firmly in Cooley.  If you are a fan, like myself, of the Greenore whiskeys then this will not disappoint.  Bags of flavour on the nose and good strength on the palate.  If I had any criticism then I would rather have seen this with a few more years under it's belt, maybe 10 would be perfect.  The 8 year old packs a good punch but the chilli heat is only just restrained.  A couple more years would smooth this out to perfection.

All that said this is a fantastic start for "The Quiet Man".  I've mentioned before that it is absolutely imperative to hit the ground running in this business, and that means on all fronts: quality of spirit, style & presentation, price point etc etc, and I have to say I think Niche Drinks have done a very good job indeed.

Where I've seen this stocked it is at a very agreeable price and the bottles certainly look good sitting beside their Irish counterparts.  As word of "The Quiet Man" spreads I can see it gaining a very decent reputation that will give the perfect base to push on from once their own distillery is up and running and eventually their own spirit is in their bottles.

Many thanks to Ciaran Mulgrew, of Niche Drinks, for the sample bottle.

Until next time,

Sláinte

SI

Greenore - 8 year old - Single Grain - Review

Irish single grain whiskey is not commonly heard of but for some time now the Cooley Distillery, Co. Louth, has been producing this style of spirit and originally had it on the shelves under the title of Greenore.

Named Greenore, after the port into which the grain, used in making the whiskey, was shipped, the two main expressions, I was always aware of, were the 8 year old and the 18 year old.  However after further research I see that there once was also a 6 year old, for the Swedish market, a 15 year old, which preceded the 18 year old and a 19 year old single cask, which was limited release of 300 bottles, released exclusively for the travel retail market and at the time was the oldest Irish single grain whiskey in the world.

With the recent changes in the ownership of Cooley, and the subsequent re-emergence of Kilbeggan as a major brand, the Greenore name is sadly no more and has now been re-named under the Kilbeggan brand.

As far as I am concerned they can call it whatever they like as long as they continue to maintain the high quality and reputation the Greenore name had been building for itself.

Before I go on to my notes it's only fair to mention that recently we have had another Irish single grain enter the market in the recent years and this is of course the Teeling single grain. 

Now while details of it shall be reserved for a future review I just want to say that it is also of very high quality and if the overall reputation of Irish single grain continues to grow in this manner it can only be brilliant for Irish whiskey as a whole.

For so long we have been known for our pot stills, our blends and our single malts and now that we can proudly add good quality single grain into the portfolio this completes our set, so to say, and allows us to compete across the board, across the globe.

Onto my notes:

Nose - Green apple, watermelon, ripe banana and fruit salad sweets.  Spirit is smooth and creamy and turns the fruits into apple tart with cream and banoffee pie.  Feels like great casks have been used in maturing this spirit as there is a distinct, but light, vanilla note and a slightly dry oak spice in the background.  A little touch of lemon citrus and a bit of rum and raisin ice cream finish the nose off nicely and towards the end a slight dustiness appears.

Palate - Light, gentle and slightly sour.  Crunchy green apples, more banana and the citrus is now more orange in nature.  Still undeniably smooth but the youthfulness is more apparent on the palate with a nice kick of spice which, now I think of it, is probably also partly due to the 93% corn used in the production process (the other 7% I believe is malted barley).  Still tropical and the oak comes at the end with some dryness and oak spice.

Finish - A little thin and swift but extremely fresh with dry spice.



Overall this is a fantastic whiskey, apart from the short finish.  I've never really let a finish cloud my judgement of a whiskey providing the nose and palate are of high quality and in this instance they are.  The whiskey has fantastic flavours throughout and if this is an example of what lies ahead for Irish single grain then we're all in for a treat.

What I would say though is that remains to be seen whether this quality will be maintained under the Kilbeggan name?  I honestly do not see why it wouldn't but you never know whenever new owners come into town with their new ideas.  Hopefully they'll understand the reputation this whiskey has built up and use it as a building block to grow from. 

Hopefully I shall have a sample of the Kilbeggan version soon and you can rest assured I'll be checking closely to make sure all that's changed is the name and only the name.

Lastly I'd just like to say thank you to David for the sample which was obtained as a swop.

Until next time,

Sláinte

SI

Laphroaig - 8 year old - Provenance - Douglas Laing - Review

To follow on from my update yesterday, where I introduced the recent "Big Peat" tweet tasting, I'm back again to take you onto the 2nd of the 5 drams sampled.

Incidentally if you missed the first update it can be found by clicking here.

For the second dram of the evening we moved to the south of Islay, to the ever popular Laphroaig Distillery. 

This whisky also comes from Douglas Laing's "Provenance" range and is a youthful 8 years old.  Bottled at 46% ABV, this particular bottling is from 1 refill hogshead which was filled in 2005 and bottled in 2014.

Onto the notes:

Nose - Fruity and tropical with sting hints of lemon and banana.  Distinctly young alcohol can be detected along with some brine.  With a touch of water buttered peat arrives along with a very strange sense of newly printed magazines (weird I know, but quite nice).

Palate - Big malty, sweet arrival.  The young alcohol is here in abundance with a hot nip in the mouth.  This is backed up with a good whack of menthol.  Spicy, stewed oranges bring the sensation back to a more fruity feel.  When the water is added the heat is definitely toned down allowing the experience to become sweeter with the smoke and peat making a return.

Finish - This dram leaves a big heat kick in the mouth and is intensely drying.  The final finish is one of pear and apple.

Overall this is a bit of an untamed beast.  Compared to the Caol Ila, in the first update, this seems more suited to the moniker "Young & Feisty".  That said, this whisky definitely has it's good points.  The fruitiness of the spirit is evident and I feel this gives a great insight into a well known distillery.  Distinctly coastal with a great deal of pleasure to be found given time with the dram, along with some water.  Unfortunately, due to the very nature of tweet tastings, time was not something I had.  Hopefully in the future I can obtain another sample of this and discover what hidden treasures are sure to be found within this whisky.

As with all of these updates relevant links can be found below and I'll be back tomorrow with the 3rd little gem.

Until next time,

Slainte.

SI

Laphroaig 8 year old by Douglas Laing - http://www.masterofmalt.com/whiskies/laphroaig/laphroaig-8-year-old-2005-cask-10294-provenance-douglas-laing-whisky/?srh=1

The Whisky Wire - http://www.thewhiskywire.com

Douglas Laing & Co. - http://www.douglaslaing.com/home.php?DOC_INST=1