Tasting Notes

• Tasting notes by Jonny McCormick, Whisky Advocate

  Every so often, whether by blind luck or meticulous searching, a brilliant cask turns up. Fruit pastilles, peaches in syrup, caramelized apples, freshly baked bread, and lemons weeping juice, supported by the smoke from the glowing red fringes of burning newspaper. Lemon and grapefruit acidity in the mouth, developing creaminess, vanilla, and more tropical fruit characteristics, with some slightly bitter char surfacing after a minute. Candied grapefruit follows into the finish as the smoke rolls in. Rather glorious.

  91 points

• Tasting Notes by Billy A

  Nose: Big fruity Gummi Bears and wine gums to start – like opening a new bag and inhaling deeply, or ‘like smashing your face into a bag’, as I put it during the show weekend. With that are some sharper citrus notes: lemon and grapefruit zest, and pink-grapefruit flesh. Sitting behind everything is a whisp of charcoal and fruity peat smoke.

  Palate: Creamy citrus – lemon posset? – starts things, with hints of the fruity sweets from the nose coming in close behind. The smoke is more noticeable on the palate, with charcoal and peat fires joined by rich and fruity dark chocolate, and black bread. Sweetness is still dominant, with rich, dark and lightly singed fruit cake sitting behind everything.

  Finish: Fragrant smoke – fruit wood burning in a fireplace – turning fruity and zesty over time.

  Comment: This was the most requested dram on the Show Bottlings stand throughout the show – once word got out, it was the first thing that everyone asked for, and the number of repeat customers was impressive. There are a few whiskies of similar age (and probably provenance) out there at the moment, but this one is the biggest fruit monster of them all – if you like your Irish whiskies dialled up to 11, then this is for you.