Is this the finest Irish single malt? Well, it says so on the label, so I assume it must be, because you wouldn't lie about something like that.
Finest Irish Single Malt is a 22 year old malt bottled by The Whisky Exchange. As we noted yesterday, there are only two possible sources for older Irish single malt: Bushmills and Cooley, and Cooley sold a lot more of its whiskey.
Finest Irish Single Malt, 22 years old, 58.1% abv ($233)
The nose begins bright and fruity. Midway through, there are some fuel notes. The palate is malty with fruit candy, fresh mint and then some light peat notes that last into the finish.
Well, given that I detected some peat in this, that makes it almost certainly a Cooley malt (EDIT: though see David S's comment below about some lightly peated Bushmills that The Whisky Agency has been bottling). I thought it was quite good, the peat/fuel type flavors providing a nice contrast to the fruity flavors. I'd say this is my favorite of this week's Irish Whiskeys.
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
I'm 99% convinced that this is from the same batch of lightly peated Bushmills that The Nectar and The Whisky Agency (among others) have been bottling. The tropical fruit is totally reminiscent of Bushmills. Michael Jackson wrote about Bushmills making some lightly peated single malt in the late 80s and early 90s.
ReplyDeleteDavid S, that's really interesting; I wasn't aware of that peated Bushmills. Thanks for the comment.
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