Single Malt Report: Glengoyne Cask Strength, Batch 1

On Tuesday, I reported on GlenDronach's first batch of their new sherried NAS Cask Strength single malt.  Today, it'll be the first batch of the new version of Glengoyne's sherried NAS Cask Strength single malt.  These two young Cask Strength whiskies were released around the same time late last year.

This version of Glengoyne's CS is part of the brand's newly refreshed range.  Previously there had been a 10, 12, 17, and 21 year old, along with a 12 year old cask strength.  The new range, presented with new handsome modern labels, swaps out the 17 for a 15yo and 18yo, and the CS loses its age statement.  The old range is still available all over the US, while the new range has been slow to get here.  Specifically, this cask strength bottling has yet to cross the ocean.

In October 2012, I reviewed the old 17 year (please see the review for more info about the distillery) from a sample and enjoyed it immensely.  From there I bought my own bottle and discovered a whisky much more heavily sherried than the one from the sample.  Since I'd poured that original sample myself, I pondered if there may have been some batch variation.  I had read that at least 35% of the casks in the 17 were first-fill sherries, so could they have upped the sherry casks?  Since their site now says most of their casks are ex-sherry, my theory might hold up.

This new Cask Strength edition is certainly sherried, though more softly so than the GlenDronach.  I've eyed the old Glengoyne 12yo Cask Strength on a couple of occasions as it can still be found here and there, meanwhile this first batch of the new CS can also be found in Europe as it hasn't sold out as quickly as the 'Dronach.  Let's see how Glengoyne fares.

Distillery: Glengoyne
Ownership: Ian MacLeod Distillers
Age: NAS
Maturation: ex-Oloroso sherry Spanish oak casks (possibly a mix of first- and re-fill casks)
Region: Highlands (South)
Alcohol by Volume: 58.7%
Batch: 1 (2012)

NEAT
The color is a dark reddish amber, perhaps "sienna" if this was a Macallan.  First thing I smell in the nose is PEAT! OMG PEAT!!!  I'm kidding, there's no peat.  That was just a poke at the Glengoyne marketing folks (who will probably never read this review), who make a point to brag about the lack of peat in their whisky.  Okay, I'll start again.  There's a lot of buttery oak in the nose.  Lots of lightly spiced toasted oak as well.  Pencil eraser, paint thinner, golden raisins, shoe soles, and stale black raisins.  It's actually very closed.  Needs lots of air.  After twenty minutes: orange sorbet, pencil shavings, a distant meatiness, and a puff of eggy sulfur.  The malt is much louder in the palate.  Lots of young barley spirit.  There's a slight rubberiness and significant heat.  Sherry meets vanilla beans meets juicy raisins, but it's not sweet.  The finish is very drying and the sherry announces itself the loudest here.  A little chocolate, a lot of stewed prunes, and sea salt.

WITH WATER
On the nose, oh my goodness.  Everyone's favorite horse, Hoof Hearted, arrives in first (please click here and turn up the volume for a 16 second explanation).  Airing it out a bit, the whisky become reminiscent of the 17yo with a soft sherry duvet.  More pencil erasers now and more sugars, but less of the solvent.  Also some nice lemon peel and dried ginger.  The palate is very creamy with a nice coffee bitterness.  Vanilla custard and whipped cream.  That pleasant bitter note lingers in the finish, along with a little tanginess and very milky chocolate.

Here's a rare instance wherein I'll recommend adding water, but then please give the nose a little air if you know what I mean.  It's not bad when neat, but it's very tight.

One thing I found curious about this whisky is the oak.  There is a significant presence of butter and vanilla, vanillin notes which can be found in casks of charred American oak.  Many distilleries are now using American oak for their sherry casks since it is easier to come by and much cheaper.  So I actually thought that was the oak involved in this whisky's maturation.  But Glengoyne states very clearly that their oak is felled in Spain.  Toasted q.robur and q.petraea can also deliver vanilla notes, but I've never found such a strong ones coming from a European oak-aged whisky.  Perhaps they char the oak as opposed to a medium toasting, thus bringing more vanillins to the surface?  This is not a complaint, more of an observation (and an opportunity for someone to weigh in on this).  It was very interesting to experience a heap of chocolate coming from GlenDroanch's sherry casks and big dose of vanilla coming from Glengoyne's sherry casks.

Ultimately this wasn't as lush and rich as the GlenDronach.  It needs a considerable amount of air as well as some careful watering to open it up.  Once it comes to life, it's a pleasing drinker, one I might try again especially if additional batches are released.  Now how about one batch for The States?

Availability - Europe only
Pricing - $80-$95 depending on shipping costs
Rating - 81

Single Malt Report: GlenDronach Cask Strength, Batch 1

GlenDronach Distillery produces a single malt I often recommend to folks (especially those who are looking to expand beyond Macallan), but rarely buy for myself.  A lot of that has to do with my sherry issue.  For those unfamiliar with "my sherry issue", here's a brief recap:

Sometime around February 2012, I realized I didn't like ex-sherry cask matured whisky.  I could appreciate it and sort out which were higher quality and lower quality versions, but I never desired actually drinking the stuff.  There was a palate turnoff that equated to something like, "I don't want sherry, I want whisky!"  So, I tended to search out ex-bourbon cask-matured or low oak influenced malts.  As a result you'll tend to find somewhat of a paucity of reviews on sherried whisky around these parts.

But over the past year, I've been able to pinpoint where things sherried go wrong in my mouth.  Firstly, sherry-finished malts rarely seem to pull the oak, wine, and spirit together.  Instead, all the parts bang around separately and the spirit itself loses in that battle.  Glenmorangie Lasanta is an example of this.  Meanwhile, full powered, cask strength whisky fully matured in sherry barrels can me very happy; for instance, this lovely legal lass.  Whiskies that are a mix of ex-sherry and ex-bourbon casks -- see here and here -- can be very welcoming.  Though my palate finds the sherry element first in these malts, it tends to yield and accept and sometimes embrace.  And then there are the inexplicable miracles like Yamazaki 18.  I long for more delights, so I leave myself open to the possibility of the miraculous.

I have reviewed GlenDronach's official 12, 15, 18, and 21 year olds.  They're all decent, with the 15 being the strongest and the 21 possibly being the weakest.  The prices on the older whiskies are much more reasonable than those of similarly aged Macallan.  Plus the ABVs are 46-48% and the whisky is not chill-filtered.  Thus, I'm happy to recommend them.  But I've never bought them.

Then there are the GlenDronach single casks.  Of these casks, the oldies' lore grows more each year, with everyone from the Malt Maniacs to Jim Murray gushing over their quality.  So the 35-40 year old bottles usually vanish before hitting the shelves.  Thus the next level of casks, those of the early '90s, become much desired.  Those are also scooped up very quickly.  I've tried three of them and I've enjoyed every one.  I had the pleasure of officially reviewing my favorite, the aforementioned "lovely legal lass".  Thanks to its cakey, nutty, tobaccoy, and chocolatey nature, I would be happy to buy a bottle of it -- if I had $160 just lying around.  That one has been my favorite GlenDronach.

But now it has a challenger.

Distillery: GlenDronach
Ownership: BenRiach Distillery Company Ltd
Age: NAS
Maturation: a mix of former Oloroso and Pedro Ximenez sherry casks
Region: Eastern Highlands (on the edge of Speyside)
Alcohol by Volume: 54.8%
Batch: 1 (2012)
Limited bottling: 12,000

That's right: No Age Statement.  I'm about to gush about a no age statement whisky.  So shoot me (full of GlenDronach Cask Strength Batch 1).

12,000 doesn't sound like that limited of a release, but this stuff is GONE.  Due to its success, the distillery has released a second and third batch.  And I believe the new third batch's turnout was 16,000 bottles.  Each batch is proving to be slightly different.  To me that's a good thing, since the blenders are not trying to force an exact replica each time.  But please note: I have not tried batches 2 or 3, so I cannot speak for them.  I shall address Batch 1.

NEAT
The color is of a dark gold with some crimson around the edges.  At first sniffs, the nose is full of cocoa powder, gunpowder, and dates.  Then, slowly, notes of honey, nutmeg, something between cardamom and ginger, and tangerines ease out.  With 15-20 minutes of air, out come the prunes, cinnamon, and Elmer's glue.  The palate is full of thick sticky sweet PX sherry.  Hershey's Special Dark, toasty malt, cracked black pepper, and tapioca pudding follow.  Lots and lots of chocolate in the finish.  The sherry gets a little drier.  Some pipe tobacco develops, as do figs and prunes.  But mostly, hot fudge sauce.  Oh, so much hot fudge sauce.

WITH WATER
The nose gets grape-ier.  As in fresh red grapes and grape juice.  And raisins.  It gets a little dirtier too, with very earthy molasses, leather, and something farmy (used hay in the sun?).  This is met with notes of cardamom and caramel sauce.  It's like a Macallan with some dirt under its nails.  Ah, here's the chocolate in the palate.  Milk chocolate-covered dried fruits this time.  It's sweeter now, but also has some of that earthy note from the nose.  Perhaps actual earth?  Milk chocolate again in the finish.  There's also some citrus tanginess along with dried apricots.

It's the chocolate that gets me.  That hot fudge thing in the finish lasted about 5-10 minutes.  Beyond that, the rough and tumble notes in the nose (gunpowder, glue, soil, and hay) prove to be a lot of fun.  Some of it might be due to youth or a quirky cask or two, but it provides the percussion to the malt's bass line, the fruits' lead guitar, and the chocolate's vocal harmony.

Now, can we get some of this in The States now please?  Maybe Batch 4?  Hopefully closer to Aberlour A'bunadh prices ($60-$70) than Glenfarclas 105 ($85-$95) prices.  Price aside, I would choo-choo-choose this above any of the regular OB range (12yo-21yo).  It's livelier, bolder, rougher, fruitier, and chocolatier than any of them.  And, gasp, it makes me want to try some more sherry-matured whisky.

Availability - Sold out, though Batches 2 & 3 can be found via European retailers
Pricing - Batches 2 & 3 are $85-$110 depending on shipping costs
Rating - 91

Single Malt Report: Caol Ila 14 year old Unpeated (2012)

Five years ago, my buddy James brought a bottle of Caol Ila to the inaugural Anderson Business School Whisky Club meeting, held at our old Hollywood apartment.  It was my first Caol Ila (G&M bottling, BevMo exclusive) and one of my first positive peaty experiences.  Kristen remembers it as if it'd happened yesterday.  Not so much smoke on the nose and palate but once the drinker exhaled, the finish filled one's head with campfire smoke.  It was dense and lovely.  It could make a drunk feel like a dragon (though, I'm sure a cigarette and mezcal would do the same thing).  Sometimes I wonder if that was the last time my wife drank a peated whisky for fun.  Nowadays, when I hand her a glass of something only slightly peated she says, "Smells like smoke," and passes it back to me.  Overhand.

Anyway, that was a good start for Caol Ila and I.  On Monday, I posted a report on the officially bottled 12 year old.  On Tuesday, it was a post on the official 18 year old.  Today, it's the 2012 limited release of a cask strength 14 year old, that was unpeated.

Yep, unpeated.  In the 1980s, the distillery started experimenting with unpeated malt runs and continued to do so off and on until 2005 when the market's demands for peated malt ended these trials.  In 2006, they started an annual limited edition bottling of the unpeated Caol Ila.  The positive response has kept the releases going ever since.

In most of the reviews of the early bottlings, you'll see that folks tend to still find peat notes in the "unpeated" whisky.  One explanation is that while the malt itself was unpeated, phenolic residue that wasn't scrubbed off the stills wound up transferring itself back to the spirit being run through.  Another possibility I've been wondering about comes from the label on all of the bottlings (see above), which reads with quotes "Unpeated Style".  Those quotes and the addition of the word style makes one ponder the possibility that perhaps the malt was peated at much lower level, 3-5ppm for instance.

I'll tell you ahead of time, I didn't find any peat from my sample of the 2012, but I can definitely see why some folks refer to these releases as Caol Ila Highland.

Distillery: Caol Ila
Ownership: Diageo
Age: minimum 14 years
Maturation: European oak casks
Region: Port Askaig, Islay
Alcohol by Volume: 59.3%
PPM: ???
Chilfiltered? No need to with this ABV
Colored? Probably

NEAT
The color is gold, just a smidgen darker than the 18.  Lots of ethyl burns one's nose as the whisky announces its high ABV.  Interesting that this comes from European oak because I get tons of vanilla from it, but more on that in a sec.  The other main notes are swimming pool chlorine, cocoa powder, butterscotch, and roses.  But there's also an intense vanilla and brown sugar combo that smelled strikingly like Johnnie Walker Black Label.  Then there's Nilla Wafers, which I usually find in Canadian blends.  Then (to confuse you further) the floral note combined with a lot of coconut cream hits, reminding me of high strength single grain whisky.  The palate was more straightforward: digestive biscuits, charred wood, brown sugar, sea salt, and a brief savory note.  It's a bit hot and toasty, but simple.  Lots of malt arrives in the lengthy finish, followed by salt and toasted wheat bread.  Again, focused like the palate.

WITH WATER
The nose starts with swimming pools filled with caramel and roses.  Salted caramel ice cream with Cool Whip on top.  The palate is now reminiscent of a toasty malty blend.  All sugar and spice, maybe some nutmeg and vanilla bean.  Reminds me of Compass Box's Great King Street Artist's Blend.  It finishes mildly with salt and malt.

I apologize for all of the comparisons in my notes, but the whisky continually reminded me of other whiskies.  Which was kind of weird.  I also found very little of the classic European oak notes, other than maybe the toast and spice.  Adding water made it a better drinker but also did not make it stand out in any way.

No actual criticisms come to mind, other than this version of the "Unpeated Style" of Caol Ila seems interchangeable with a number of inoffensive single malts and high malt blends.  Its benefit is its high strength which allows for the expression of the full power of the malt and also allows for toying around with water.

With and without water, I tried it alongside the regular 12 year old and always preferred the peated version.  It could be a case of my nose and palate preferring the phenolics, but I did find the peat bringing more depth and variety to the experience.  As for other opinions, Serge liked this unpeated version slightly better than I, though he found lots of vanilla and not much sherry as well.

If you can find it in the $75-$85 range, then it'll be what currently passes for a good deal on a cask strength bottling at its age.  I do recommend trying it first, just to make sure your expectations are in the right place.  For me, I'll stick with the bacon, barbecue, and campfires of the peated version.

Availability - A couple dozen specialty retailers in the US, more available in Europe

Pricing - $75 to $100 in the US, much pricier in Europe

Rating - 80

Single Malt Report: Caol Ila 18 year old

Yesterday it was Caol Ila's 12 year old.  Today, their 18 year old.

Time to set the Fawning Meter to Full Toady.

But first, some totally useful Caol Ila trivia!

The Caol Ila distillery was originally built in 1846.  In 1879, it was rebuilt; or, as per Alfred Bernard's report in 1885, the distillery was "much extended and improved, and is arranged in the most modern style and possesses all the newest appliances used in the art of distilling."  In 1972, DCL (proto-Diageo) thought it needed to be further extended and improved as it was no longer arranged in the most modern style, nor possessing all the newest appliances used in the art of distilling.  So they knocked it down and built the current standing edition of Caol Ila.  In the years since the rebuild it has become one of the most technologically advanced of Scottish distilleries with many of its processes being run by computer hardware and software rather than by humans.

Caol Ila has been a favorite of blenders for well over a century, so it was an important addition to DCL's holdings when they bought it in 1927.  From 1970 to 1974, during the distillery's shutdown and new construction, DCL needed to make up for the missing peated malt for the their blend brands.  They addressed this by upping Brora's peat levels during those years.  So when you see the plaudits for Brora single malt from that era, know that the nature of Brora's whisky did actually change for a short period of time due to Caol Ila's rebuild.  Once the Islay distillery was up and running again, Brora's peat levels were lowered and their mash-house was rebuilt.

But enough about Brora.  Let's get back to Caol Ila and its 18 year old offspring.

Distillery: Caol Ila
Ownership: Diageo
Age: minimum 18 years
Maturation: refill ex-bourbon American oak casks (I think)
Region: Port Askaig, Islay
Alcohol by Volume: 43%
PPM: 30-35
Chilfiltered? Yup.
Colored? It is decidedly so.

Many thanks to Florin for providing a sample of this increasingly scarce whisky.

NEAT
The color is of a darker amber than the 12, but not reaching the Johnnie-Walker-Gold-Hue(TM).  So I'm thinking/hoping they went easy on the colorant.  So many more ripe fruits on the nose when compared the younger CI: apricots, peach skin, orange peel, and lots of pears.  But these fruit notes are very reserved at first, taking their time to eventually revealling themselves.  But after twenty to thirty minutes, it's a summer fruit salad.  Secondary notes include a soft muskiness and a whisper of smoke.  The palate is very toasty, like toast in fact.  Smoked vanilla beans float in a creamy peach custard.  More ripe stone fruits, probably apricot.  There's also a slight veg note from the peat, like celery meets moss.  The fruits still linger in the finish, along with subtle mossy peat.  Some sweet clementines and a wee bit of salt.  The smoke is tongue-coating.

WITH WATER
On the nose: Lots of perfectly ripe pears, which are a near mystery to me because I have little luck ripening them at home.  Elderflower liqueur and green grass.  The peating actually shows up more on the palate now, along with vanilla custard and white fruits.  It's soft as a pillow.  The finish is all distant smoke and vanilla creme filling.

This is the style I really enjoy.  The fruits, the cream, the moss, the salt.  It's probably even better at 46% ABV, but there's no way we're going to see that happen in this decade from CI's ownership.  Hell, it's not even easy to find a bottle of this as it is.  Sort of like Talisker 18, it's an irregular release.  When Diageo decides it's time, they bottle it again and raise the price 30-50%.  Good times.

But back to the positives.  This is graceful, classy, slightly raspy, and well delivered.  It's Tony Bennett's voice.  Old guy Tony Bennett, not young guy Tony Bennett.

Those fruit notes are very prominent, something I've tended to find in even older whisky that hasn't collapsed under too much oak.  The peat and smoke notes are quiet but persistent, showing up more on the palate than the nose.  It's not going to fight you like the young versions of the Kildalton malts, instead it's going to sing to you and keep you company in the evenings as you write about whisky things.

Availability - Increasingly difficult to find in US, look to Europe

Pricing - $110 to $150 (ex-VAT, with int'l shipping)

Rating - 91

Single Malt Report: Caol Ila 12 year old

Though it is a Diageo distillery, Caol Ila's near complete absence from this blog was not intentional on my part.  So, I'm going to correct this issue by posting three reports on the big Islay distillery in three days.  The first two I tried side by side (thanks to Florin for the samples).  Then I saved a little of the first (the 12 year) to give me a little perspective on the third (a purchased sample).

Today, it's the Caol Ila 12 year old.

First, some Caol Ila Did-You-Know?!

Caol Ila, Gaelic for "Sound of Islay" or more accurately "Islay Strait", has a production capacity of 6.5 million liters, making it the largest distillery on Islay.  It is so large, that its capacity is twice that of the next largest Islay distillery, Laphroaig.  At the moment, only Macallan, Glenlivet, Glenfiddich, and Roseisle have larger production outputs, but Caol Ila remains the largest peated malt whisky producer in Scotland (and, likely, the world).  The vast majority of that whisky goes into Diageo's largest blends: Johnnie Walker, J&B, and Bell's.  In 1989, DCL (proto-Diageo) started bottling Caol Ila as a limited 15 year old whisky under their Flora & Fauna series.  In 2002, it moved to their "Hidden Malts" series, along with Clynelish and Glen Elgin.  Because it's not part of the original "Classic Malts" (though it's often lumped in with them), it can sometimes be more difficult to find a bottle of Caol Ila, compared to Lagavulin.

Distillery: Caol Ila
Ownership: Diageo
Age: minimum 12 years
Maturation: refill ex-bourbon American oak casks
Region: Port Askaig, Islay
Alcohol by Volume: 43%
PPM: 30-35
Chilfiltered? Yup.
Colored? It is decidedly so.

Now, enough with facts!

NEAT
It has a mild amber color, which is comforting since so many of Diageo's whiskys are unnaturally brown.  Perhaps they went easy on the e150a with this one.  On the nose, honey on wheat bread leads the way.  Then bruised apple flesh and a hint of piney peat.  It's very fresh overall: light vanilla, fresh stone fruit, and a mint-like effervescence. All sorts of apple notes now, actually. And the smoke remains reserved.  Give the whisky some time in the glass and some woody notes arrive with some spice on their tail.  While the peat and smoke remain gentle on the palate, they are more present than they are with the Bowmore 12.  There's a subtle bacon note and barbecued veggie skins (probably squash?).  Lots of hay.  With some air, the palate becomes a well-controlled combo of mild vanilla, salt, tanginess, and wood smoke.  A little more barley registers on the finish.  But for me, the Caol Ila 12 finish always paints the same portrait when I close my eyes:  I'm overlooking the beach at night, chimney smoke wafting in the tangy salty air.  Every time.

WITH WATER
The nose gets maltier and yeastier, with a light pleasant copper note.  Maybe some whole wheat toast and peaches.  It's slightly more candied now too.  The palate develops a note of mustard seeds but not too strongly.  Light peat, more obvious vanilla.  The finish is now briefer.  But it's creamy, peaty, and a little peppery.

While it won't blast your senses like the more famous South Islay trio (Ardbeg, Lagavulin, and Laphroaig), Caol Ila 12 is solid on every front.  The oak only pipes up every once in a while, but it mostly lets the mash, peat, salty air, and time do the talking.  What's interesting is that though Caol Ila is distilled right next to the sea, it is matured inland on mainland Scotland in one of Diageo's massive warehouses.  So that salty air note is not actually due to salty air exposure during maturation.  It's something that comes through in the peating or distillation process.  It's very effective, whatever it may be.

I'll admit, I've given Caol Ila the short shrift in favor of its sexier neighbors, and have unfairly looked past the indie bottles just because its distillery is owned by Diageo.  There are some elements here that remind me of similarly aged Ardmore (♥s!), except CI's malt seems to have more salt and bacon in the mix.  I've seen a wide array of prices on this one.  It's a well designed whisky, and can compete fairly well at the $50 price point.  But once it goes north of $70, it's difficult to recommend.

Availability - Many specialty retailers worldwide

Pricing - East Coast $45 to $65; West Coast $55 to $75 (boo)

Rating - 85

NOT Single Malt Report: Concannon Blended Irish Whiskey

This report is kind of a bummer for me write.  I really wanted to support this stuff.  It's inexpensive, $20.  It has a good story -- the Concannon family moved to the US from Ireland and as immigrants in 1865 established a vineyard that still runs today.  And it is finished in their own petite sirah barrels.  I love me some petite sirah (petite syrah, petit syrah, petit sirah, et cetera), so I was hoping this might turn into something interesting.  So purchased it blindly.

The first few glasses from the bottle weren't bad.  In fact I liked them better than Cooley's Trader Joe's single malt.  I couldn't find the wine notes in the whiskey, but something (the corn?) was definitely keeping the issues I usually have with Cooley in check.  Then, by the time the fill level dropped to near mid-bottle (two months later) something started going wrong inside the bottle.  Once I got to the last third, it was bitter and unpalatable.

The shift was likely due to two factors.  This whiskey doesn't take to oxygen that well in a Glencairn glass, so the oxidation inside the bottle definitely did it no favors.  I also kept the bottle out in our dining room.  That's where I often put our house whiskies, the Tier 3s.  The dining room is the warmest spot in the condo, so the bottle spent some time in 80-85 degree heat on some days.

In any case, the last third of the bottle went down the sink.  But before things went too terribly in the bottle, I archived a sample to review.  So this report comes from somewhere around the bottle's halfway mark.

Company: Concannon
Distillery: Cooley (owned by Beam Inc.)
Country: Ireland
Style: Blended whiskey (malt and corn)
Maturation: four years in "small" ex-bourbon barrels, four months in petite sirah casks; and though it's an American company, the maturation took place in Ireland
Alcohol by Volume: 40%

NEAT
Since the color is a light gold, I'm thinking/hoping the colorant is kept to a minimum.  Anise and rubber are the primary notes on the nose.  Secondary notes include blackberry jam, nail polish remover, toasted grains, and caramel.  After some air, the whiskey starts to take on some very different characteristics like coconut lotion, plastic bottle, and horseradish.  The palate is very Cooley, but grainier, rougher, and hotter.  Notes of cardboard cereal box, burnt plastic, and generic vanilla arrive first.  It's very thin and watery.  Give the whiskey ten minutes in the in the glass and the dull thud of bland spirit takes center stage.  The finish is mostly heat.  There's a burnt thing going on, cardboard, fresh red grapes, and mild bitterness.

WITH WATER
The nose gets less synthetic once water's added.  The toasted grains and anise are still there.  But so is the nail polish remover, in the background.  A generic citrus note develops as well.  Lots of vanilla in the palate.  It's malty too.  But then something really wrong enters the picture and it makes me want to stop drinking.  I'm thinking it's the big bland spirit issue.  The finish is brief, spirity, and bitter.

I didn't finish my 1 ounce sample.  The whiskey was just going downhill too quickly for me to continue.

It's better neat.  The nose, though odd, isn't terrible.  The palate and finish indeed register as a cheap mild blend.  But I seriously do not recommend adding water.  With too many earthly elements reacting with the whiskey, it turns bad.

And keep in mind, I separated this sample before the whiskey got even worse in the bottle.  BUT, I'm giving the whiskey an extra half-star (or 5 or 6 points) in the rating because I know it had better days earlier in its life.  But I tell you this, if you open your Concannon Irish Whiskey bottle and like the stuff, you'd better not waste too much time getting to the bottom of the bottle.  If you open the bottle and don't like it from the start, I'm pretty sure it isn't going to get any better.

For a pair of more positive reviews see here and here.

Availability - many US specialty liquor retailers

Pricing - $15 to $25

Rating - 69  (ranging from 75 to 63 during the life of the bottle)

Single Malt Report: Connemara Turf Mor

Today's Cooley malt is the peatiest of their peated brand, Connemara Turf Mor.  Here's the Turf Mor (Gaelic for Big Peat) description per the Liquid Irish blog:

...a few years ago Cooley had trouble sourcing its usual amount of 20ppm peated malt from Scotland (malt made in Ireland is not peated). To keep the stills going, they bought a higher 58ppm malt and mixed it with the unpeated variety to moderate the intensity. 

As an experiment, however, they distilled some of the highly-peated malt on its own and that is what has appeared today as Connemara Turf Mór.

Liquid Irish's source of this information appears to be Brian Quinn, the Kilbeggan Distillery (also owned by Beam) manager, so I'll go with that tale.

As mentioned yesterday, my palate does not take to Cooley's malt at all.  So the thought of strong peating and wine finishes on their malt actually does give me some hope going in, hoping that "the Cooley thing" is covered up by other elements.  I found the regular Connemara Cask Strength to be very hot, woody, smoky, and well, that's it.  I was hoping this Small Batch edition of Connemara would bring about a better, more interesting experience.

Brand: Connemara (peated single malt)
Distillery: Cooley (owned by Beam Inc.)
Country: Ireland
Style: Single Malt Whiskey
Age: around 3 years (2010 edition)
Maturation: probably ex-bourbon casks; its URL says "sherry finish", though I haven't read any mention of this otherwise
Alcohol by Volume: 58.2%
PPM: 58

I bought my 30mL sample from whiskysamples, a reliable European sample shop which is currently undergoing a website transition.

NEAT
The color is amber.  The nose's strongest scent is that of new sneakers.  It permeates everything else.  Alongside there are rye-like spices, cinnamon rock candy, damp moss, black licorice, fresh apricots, and unripened peaches.  And lots of hot ethyl.  On the palate, I find a note that's like burnt hay meets brown sugar syrup.  The sneakers and moss show up here, along with something green (like live grains and grass), and "the Cooley thing" (aka vanilla-coated stale sugary breakfast cereal dunked in white vinegar).  It finishes sweetly.  Lots of vanilla beans as well as the Cooley thing.  The peat becomes very Lagavulin-ish with time.  The smoke isn't as heavy as I'd expected but it lasts the longest.

WITH WATER
"Black licorice farts and a lot of them" (as per my notes) on the nose and "floral perfume trying to cover it up".  Balsamic vinegar reduction, a little turpentine, sugar cookies, and clementines.  Oh, and dog hair.  The palate flattens and blands out.  Bitter peat, generic vanilla, and a slight tang.  But then it finishes very sweetly.  There's a little malt mixing with peat ashes.  Then a weird vinegar tang that gets sourer after time.

My final note from this tasting: "WTF is going on with this whiskey?"

With water, the nose gets very odd and inconsistent, burping up clashing odors every few seconds.  The hydrated palate goes nowhere, but then the finish picks back up in its oddities.  The neat nose is a weirdo too, but easier to take and occasionally matches the palate.  It's quite hot while neat, but with the water it's just strange.  This could be a symptom of its youth.

There are definitely many characteristics pouring forth from this whiskey, and I can imagine it seemed kinda fun when the Cooley folks nosed the cask.  But the total package is totally off kilter.  I don't know why they were in such a rush to release a barely legal whiskey.  A few more years in a good cask wouldn't have hurt.  This could have been fun as an 8 year old, so I hope they held onto a few casks of the big peatin'.

Serge thinks it's "a curiosity" worth 79 points and Fuji of LAWS wasn't crazy about the stuff; meanwhile John Hansell thinks it vibrant and distinctive, Coopered Tot likes it a bit, and Murray loved it (natch).  I do think it's more interesting than the regular Cask Strength, but have my doubts that it makes for a better drinking experience.  It makes me think that Connemara has many miles to go before it can compete with its Beam brethren, Laphroaig and Ardmore.

Availability - Canada and Europe

Pricing - $90 to $120 (minus VAT, plus shipping)

Rating - 74