Celtic Cask - Deich - Review

Tonight I continued my exploration of new and interesting Irish whiskeys by taking part in another fine "Tweet Tasting" hosted by the Celtic Whiskey Club.  The sample for the evening was a new release from the Celtic Whiskey Shop's "Celtic Cask" range - The Celtic Cask Deich, or Celtic Cask Ten for the non Gaelic speakers out there, and those of you who may have previously seen my reviews of the Celtic Cask Sé (7), or the Celtic Cask Ocht (8), will know that I usually hold these whiskeys in high regard as they always seem to deliver on quality and taste.

The previous reviews of the Sé and Ocht covered whiskeys that had originally come from the Bushmills distillery but for tonight's offering we were being taken a bit further down the east coast of Ireland to Cooley,  Co. Louth.

The Celtic Cask Deich is a double distilled, peated, single malt that has been matured for 15 years.  The first 11 years of it's maturation were spent, traditionally, in an ex-bourbon barrel whilst the last 4 years were spent in a red wine barrel from the Domain Anges winery, which is located in the Rhone Valley, France.

As you can guess, with the Celtic Cask Deich being peated, this single malt could have been Connemara in another life but thankfully the Celtic Whiskey Shop got their hands on this cask and have given it an interesting twist with the red wine finish.

The original spirit was casked on 19th March 1999, and was bottled on 23rd February 2015, so in fact this isn't a kick in the arse off being a 16 year old.

Bottled at 46% ABV, and being non-chill filtered, this whiskey currently retails on the Celtic Whiskey Shop website for £107.65.

Another thing you may have picked on over my blog updates is that Connemara, as a whiskey, is usually one that I enjoy without ever being bowled over by.  I've always found it to be a tiny little bit thin and the 22 year old, whilst undoubtedly well made, just didn't "do it" for me.

Naturally then, when I received this sample in the post, I was excited to see if the single cask style, combined with a well managed finish, would mean I had finally found the Connemara I had been looking for.

Onto my notes:

Nose - Once poured this takes a second or two to settle in the glass and when it does there's a serious battle going on between the peated spirit and the red wine cask influence.  A good battle though it has to be said.  The peat comes through for starters and is light and gentle.  Burnt embers and dry wood smoke come across with a slight chalky, mineral note.  Not sure if that's the peat or the cask.  All the time this peat influence is distinctly coated in the red fruits which are rich and juicy.  Ripe strawberry and blackcurrant juice.  A slight minty / menthol note appears along with dark chocolate orange and some nice oak vanilla.  With time the peat develops but in the end the red wine cask wins with some red apple appearing as well.

Palate - This is more red wine cask dominant, than the nose, with sweet red fruits, more strawberry and a variety of currants.  The dry peat / wood smoke just lurks in the background enough to remind you it's there but it's definitely taking a back seat now.  There's some spice on the taste, presumably from the French oak red wine cask, and again there's the menthol which is also a little like eucalyptus now.  Initially this is most definitely sweet and juicy but the oak takes over and brings a nice dryness to the mouth.

Finish - Medium in length with stewed orange leading into crunchy red apple which is lip smacking and juicy.  Right at the end, when the fruit aftertaste subsides, the dry smoke returns for one last hurrah.

Overall this is honestly the best Irish peated whiskey I have tasted.  Whilst I admittedly have not tried the entire Connemara range, nor any other independent bottlings, I have tried the recent 22 year old and for me the Celtic Cask Deich is by far the better dram.

I initially thought, when I first poured this into the glass, that it was a little bit muddled,  and unbalanced, with no sense of identity, as the two distinct flavours fought to be noticed, but as the seconds ticked on my fears were put to bed as I found the whiskey becoming extremely well integrated.....it is clear this finish has been handled to near perfection. 

The red fruits flavours, from the red wine cask, marry nicely with the Cooley peat spirit, which I have sometimes found to be a little on the weak side, and both get a good chance to have their say.

Yet again the Celtic Whiskey Shop have outdone themselves in selecting a great cask of whiskey and putting their own spin on it.  When it comes to red wine finishes they seem to hit the nail on the head every time and I only hope they continue to do this for years to come, and I get to sample as many as I can.

What's Gaelic for 100?

Until next time,

Sláinte

SI

Beam Suntory's "Peated Malts of Distinction" - Tweet Tasting - Review

On Wednesday 12th November 2014 I sat myself down for another evening's Tweet Tasting fun in which all involved were presented with Beam Suntory's newly named "Peated Malts of Distinction".

The four whiskies that make up this collection are:
The Ardmore - Legacy, 
Connemara - Original,
Bowmore - Small Batch, 
Laphroaig - Select.

Capitalising on their "leading position in the category", Beam Suntory have brought these whiskies together to allow "both the trade and consumer to explore an extensive variety of peat flavours and taste profiles."

The whiskies involved are powerhouses in their own right and for this collection they have chosen to use NAS presentation (bottled at 40% ABV), which, in my humble opinion, will provide a great entry level insight into peated whisky and allow anyone, who has maybe stayed away from peated whisky in the past, to re-approach this unique flavour in a fresh way.

An accompanying press release, that arrived with the samples, provided some insight into rise of the peated malt category by suggesting that it is currently experiencing a 8% growth rate in the Europe, Middle-East and Africa region.  We are also informed that peated malts currently represent 17% of total malt volume sales within the same area.  

Perfect timing then for such a collection to be presented to the world?

Onto the whiskies themselves.

First up on the evening was The Ardmore - Legacy.

Replacing the "Traditional Cask", as it's core expression, it is described as being "aimed at challenging mainstream single malt brands, offering a lightly peated liquid that is sweet and uplifting."  

To push the boundaries Ardmore have experimented by balancing unreleased unpeated malt with their traditional peated malt.  They have also gone "all out" with the packaging by having a design that "reflects the spirit of Ardmore" which, by their account, is a symbolic eagle and a contour map of Ardmore's home Kennethmont.

Nose - Crisp smoky bacon, lemon biscuits, mashed banana on toast.  The smoke is light and playful.  Sweet, creamed rice pudding with citrus honey.  Not much spice going on here and with time the sweetness eases to allow it to become more green with grass and pine.

Palate - Sweet with underlying earthiness that wasn't too visible on the nose.  Incredibly smooth (possibly too smooth, if possible).  Orange peel, lemon citrus and some menthol.  Spice is still absent and the green flavours lurk in the background with the emphasis again on grass.  Also a light caramel flavour running through the spirit.  Obviously not Islay but great to try against them.

Finish - Short with slight smoke and fresh fruit.

Overall - A very easy drinking malt that's interesting to try against the bigger Islay flavours.  A touch on the thin side and, as with all these whiskies, could do with a bit more oomph on the ABV front.

Connemara - Original  

This is one worth watching as time moves on.  I have long been a fan of the whiskey produced down in Cooley, with Greenore single grain and Locke's being two stunners, but I have to be honest.  Recently, as you may know, I wasn't at all blown away by the new Connemara 22yo and again, with this tasting of the "Original", I've been left feeling a little let down.  

I can't quite work out what the problem is.  Is it that the lovely spirit character of Cooley does not integrate well with peat?  Is it that they are being too restrained and need to pump more phenols into their entire range?  Is it that they have rested on their laurels too much from the days when Connemara was winning awards across the world?  The honest answer is that I do not know but, as I stated, I'm looking forward to seeing how this brand develops under the new Beam Suntory regime because I love Irish whiskey and would love to see this become a great, great representative of what we can produce. 

Nose - Fruity, orange, lemon, pineapple and some red apple.  The smoke builds slowly.  Not massive, earthy, turf but rather light, gentle, peat smoke that drifts lightly over the fruit.  Slight perfumed note hiding underneath and you get a great sense of freshness and vibrancy.  Pear drops appear and a strange plastic note comes through but not in a bad way.

Palate - The very instant fruit arrival is quickly dominated by spice and heat.  Chilli pepper, black pepper and cloves.  After a while the orange and lemon return but you get a feel that it's all a little watery and thin.  There is some wood influence showing through and again the peat smoke just hides in the background.

Finish - Medium due to the heat which lingers on in the mouth.  To get any big sense of the peat you really need to take a hell of a gulp which a) will get you hammered, b) burn your mouth to a cinder with chilli and c) give you no sense at all of what this spirit should be.

Overall - I just find this OK.  Does not fill me with excitement and I certainly wouldn't rush to buy a bottle.  Work needs done to turn this into a whiskey that can truly contend with the big Peat champions out there.  By all means try it if you can and formulate your own opinion but in comparison to the likes of Locke's and Greenore this does not hold it's own.

Bowmore - Small Batch

Any of you that have followed this blog from the very start will know that this was briefly reviewed by myself back in December 2013.  Back then I stated that I was worried about the NAS presentation and expected it to be a young, feisty dram that would be hard to like and to my surprise I was delighted with what I had tasted.  

Naturally then I was excited to see this in the line-up, to give me a chance to confirm what I had thought last year, and compare it amongst it's other entry level rivals....again I was not disappointed.

Nose - Salty, plastic seaweed.  Proper earthy mineral peat that feels it has been ground into the malted barley.  It is by no means over the top though and the peat asserts itself in a restrained way.  Citrus freshness is here in abundance and is accompanied by toasted oats, light vanilla honey and milk chocolate.  The feel becomes lighter with time but does not detract from the fact that this is extremely well balanced.

Palate - Clean, fresh with a lovely combination of lemon, honey, smoke and spice.  A light wood smoke comes through along with some more salty notes.  The spice is perfect and integrates so well with the other flavours.  Yet again I can not believe that this is a NAS whisky.

Finish - Slightly longer than I remembered with smoke, spice and a serious urge to drink some more.

Overall - This has once again taken my breath away.  For a NAS whisky to be so well balanced and, comparatively speaking, so complex is truly a wonder.  With talk that you can pick this up for as little as £25, in certain stores, all I can say is BUY, BUY, BUY.  Really magnificent stuff.

Laphroaig - Select

A release that was chosen out of 6 different samples by the "Friend's of Laphroaig", who also chose the name.  This particular whisky is a real mix up with Oloroso sherry butts, straight American white oak (non-filled with bourbon), PX seasoned hogsheads, Quarter Casks and first fill bourbon casks all being represented here.

Having not tasted this before I was naturally curious as to how all these strong influences would marry together (if even they do?)

Nose - Sweet, malty peat smoke.  Iodine, salted popcorn, pine and pineapple (yes both), sticking plasters, some dark chocolate and with time the sherry notes appear with dried fruit.  As with the Ardmore I get some rice pudding and familiar Laphroaig toasted oats are here.  This is distinctly Laphroaig but much, much more restrained.

Palate - BOOM, we're definitely in Islay now with big earthy peat smoke. Mineral, iodine, TCP, sweet with a little red apple and salted caramel.  Some chilli spice in here which is maybe it's age showing through and towards the end a little tar / oil feel comes into play.

Finish - Decent length with a nice linger of peat.

Overall - A good solid whisky but could this be too over complicated?  Have too many cooks spoilt the broth?  I think this is one that I would need to spend a lot more time with before making a real final conclusion.

Well that's all for this journey through the peated drams of Beam Suntory.

Once again a huge thanks to Steve Rush at TheWhiskyWire.com, where anyone can apply to join in the fun of the tweet tastings, and also a big thank you to Alexandra Gerolami of Focus PR for the lovely samples and press release.

Until next time,

Sláinte

SI

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

The Whisky Wire Twitter - https://twitter.com/TheWhiskyWire

Focus PR - http://www.focuspr.co.uk/

Focus PR Twitter - https://twitter.com/FocusPR

Connemara - 22 year old - Review

As the excitement builds towards Whisky Live "Dublin", now is the perfect time of year for Irish whiskey distilleries and companies, apart from Bushmills, to come up with something new to grab our attention whilst walking round the Mansion House this Saturday coming.

There promises to be quite a lot of new bottlings on show but, to get their foot in the door first, The Kilbeggan Distilling Company have laid down the first marker by releasing their latest Connemara only a couple of weeks ago....Connemara 22 year old.

Now, those of you in the know with Irish whiskey, will be well aware that Connemara has always been produced at Cooley distillery in County Louth and that recently this distillery has found itself with a quick turnaround of owners.  From Beam Inc. taking over in 2011, to Suntory taking over Beam Inc. earlier this year, the distillery, and it's workers, could be forgiven for wondering what direction the future was headed, but now it seems that they are back on track and readying a vast number of releases to please their ever growing fan base.

All good indeed.

To give you a little insight into Cooley I can tell you that it was founded in 1985 when John Teeling acquired the building, which was a former potato alcohol plant, and converted it into a working whiskey distillery.  The distillery itself has both pot and column stills and sets itself apart by practising only double distillation as opposed to the traditional Irish triple distillation as displayed in the likes of Bushmills.

Over the years they have become famous under a variety of releases and brands including - Kilbeggan, Tyrconnell, Connemara (peated malt), Greenore (Single Grain), Locke's, Feckin', Michael Collins, Titanic and being partly responsible for Writer's Tears (the malt part).

This has allowed their style and flavours to reach far and wide and in my opinion would have a lot of people being a fan of Cooley without knowing they were a fan of Cooley.

With regards to their Connemara my previous experiences have been a touch varied.  At times I've found it either being a big peaty beast, slapping you about the face, or a gentle tame smoky softy that just caresses at your love for all things turf.

For me, this Connemara 22 year old, is bang in the middle.

Bottled at 46% ABV, costing about £140 / €170 and un-chilfiltered, here's what I thought:

Nose - The initial feel is that this is not a peat monster.  There's a lovely mix of peat smoke, earthy turf and green notes of fruit and herbs.  Smooth cereal and malt with a touch of pepper.  Wood smoke.  Light vanilla.  Fresh green apple, lemon oil and fresh oak.  Quite youthful for a 22 year old in my opinion.  With time the smoke turns to that smell you get from your clothes the morning after standing beside an open fire the night before.

Palate - Sour arrival, very sour, bitter lemon becoming sweet with plenty of clove and more pepper.  Again, this is not a peaty beast but the rather the smoke interacts nicely with the spice and fruit flavours which continue with green, and now some red, apple.  Toasted malt, some chilli but not hot.  More lemon, now with orange, and some ash with a background of a damp burnt wood note, which isn't as unpleasant as it sounds.

Finish - Nice length with fruit being more dominant than anything resembling peat, but it is still there either in the background or walking alongside the fruity flavours as it's "little brother".

Overall this is very smooth and highly enjoyable.  I've had powerful Connemaras in my time, and this is certainly not one of them, but the lighter side this displays allows the smooth fruity character of Cooley to shine through.  I'd say that the longer maturation has caused the taming of this peat monster but it certainly has not diminished the whiskey.  

If this had of been bottled at 40% ABV it could have been a disaster.  Full marks to the Kilbeggan Distillery Company for presenting this just right.

All that said, I have to finish by stating that this quite simply doesn't take my breath away.  Undoubtably this a good whiskey, well made and well finished with good character, but I just can't say that I absolutely need to have it in my life.  I can't put my finger on exactly why that is but maybe with a bit of comparison, this Saturday, I can work it out....or maybe with a closer examination all will fall into place?

Who knows?  All I know is that this is why I love the world of whisky so much.  Just when you think you've got one thing figured out it sneaks up behind you and shows you a different side which can completely alter you opinion.

Well that about wraps things up for another review, and this shall be the last before I head down to "Whisky Live", but be sure to follow along on my Twitter page @Whisky_Belfast, this Saturday, as I shall (battery permitting) be tweeting my days adventures which will include, a tour of the Old Jameson Distillery, a quick look around the Dublin whiskey shops, a Benromach masterclass and of course the show itself where I'll be sampling as many new releases as I can and hopefully taking just as many notes to bring them all straight to you in Whisky Belfast review form.

Until next time,

Sláinte.

SI