Connemara Cask Strength
Peated Irish Single Malt Whiskey
57.9% abv
£44
$65 (USD)
$95 (CAD)
Don't yet know if this will be a string of all Irish whiskies (couldn't have waited til mid-March, Doc?), but we will just take it one dram at a time.
We tasted the 40% abv version of the peated Connemara back at Malt Mission #102 (feels like forever ago). This version comes in at 57.9% abv and has nothing added, nothing taken away (ie no water to reduce strength and it is not chill-filtered). Although such practices seem to be criticised today by malt enthusiasts who spend time in online fora and commenting on What Does John Know?, Connemara proudly blends old and young whiskies and place no age statement on this bottling. And the results are award-winning (IWSC Best in Class 2009, Gold Medal "Exceptional" from BTI)
For more Cooley distillery info and to see all Connemara had on the mission, click HERE.
TASTING NOTES:
Coal, sweet vanilla, orange rind, marmalade, and a fresh floral element. Honey Nut Cheerios. Maybe some hay, too.
Toasty, nutty, smoky and spicy. Vanilla custard. Rich, but light and fresh. Dry neat and increasingly creamy with a drop of water.
SUMMARY:
Delicious, if probably a bit hot for many. Adding water or ice accentuates the custardy creaminess and mellows some of the POW factor. Really a dram of two worlds, but in wonderful harmony. Subtle yet bold, sweet and smoky, light and dark.
As the barely relevant Rush Limbaugh recently indicated, President Obama is showing support in aid and resources for Haiti not because a natural disaster has struck one of the world's most impoverished places only miles off America's shores resulting in 200,000 deaths (so far), but to improve his favour with both LIGHT and DARK peated whiskies. Well, sweetness, this stuff is both light and dark. Definitely good enough to be your house jigger, Rush.
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