Connemara 12 Year Peated Single Malt

Peated Irish whiskey? Sounds interesting enough. I once had the entry level Connemara at a whiskey show. It was toward the end of the night, so I don't have much to report. Fast forward a few years and I thought I'd like to have a bottle. The store was fresh out, but they did have this. I imagine the closest comparison to this will be one of the peated Speysides I've had in the past. Let's test that theory. Nose: Vegetal, earthy, mossy peat. Rubber turf and a hint of iodine. Vanilla, toffee, caramel, and apple. Jelly. Black pepper and baking spice. Lemon and orange. Maybe just a hint of smoke but its more sulfuric if anything. No brine presence. Reminiscent of West Cork Glengariff peat-charred cask but infinitely better. Interesting, Scotch-like nose. Palate: More of the vegetal, earthy peat. Vanilla frosting, honey, caramel, and milk chocolate. Pear, apple, strawberry, lemon, and orange. Cucumber and spearmint. Chestnut and walnut. Black pepper and baking spice. Very nice palate. Finish: Chestnut and walnut. Apple and pear. Lemon and grapefruit. Black pepper and cinnamon. Vanilla and caramel. Rubber turf. Slightly below average length finish. Interesting whiskey. A good one, too. The rubbery and sulfuric notes remind me of the West Cork Glengariff Peat-Charred Cask, despite the latter technically not being peated. The Connemara 12 also avoids the massive shortcomings and obvious youth of the latter. It's fairly well-rounded. The palate is definitely the highlight. It's interesting throughout, though. 12 years in the barrel definitely helps this one, especially since much of the Irish whiskey out there suffers from immaturity. The profile is unique. It noses similar to a peated Speyside, but drinks like a whole different animal. We'll call that a peated Irish whiskey. 40% ABV doesn't hinder this too much because of the peat, but it would definitely benefit from a bump in proof. Interesting stuff, Cooley. 3.5/5.

not sure how much this costs as I'm sipping this one courtesy of a Flaviar sampler. I like it. It starts real sweat and peaty. Peaty! vanilla! peaty! vanilla!! boom!!! it's screaming it at the top of it's lungs. I get it! The nose is warm and friendly. That buttery hint of an aired out bourbon. Not much going on though. It's more in the sips, but it's not bad. The taste lingers long enough. Since I don't know how much it costs for a fifth, I'm going to guess this is somewhere between $30-$100, and I haven't drank a whisky in a long time so maybe I'm being generous or cheap.... if you're normally into Irish and about to try scotches this might be a perfect transition into the world of peatiness..

The expert review mentioned Japanese nori. I did not know what that was until I looked it up. It's dried seaweed sheets like what are used to wrap sushi. My wife and daughters love that stuff and will eat it with tuna and mayo. Now that I know what it is, I can confirm that I get that on the nose too, along with peat, vanilla, bicuits, a hint of damp camp fire and iodine, all mingling in a strange potpourri. It's slightly silky on the palate with with some honey, vanilla, nori, sea salt and raw peat. The finish is medium length, with all the flavors interplaying until the end. It's, interesting, different, strange, weird, and I think I love it.

Nose: Peat, rubber, typical Irish herbal notes of sage basil and parsley. Strong peach and orange creamsicle once you adapt to the peat smell. Caramel, butterscotch, and toffee also appear. It then transitions to violets and bluebell flowers along with some charcoal and light green apple. Very dynamic and active nose. Taste: Very strong herbal and floral with moderate peat. The finish explodes in fruitiness with honey, pear, apples, peaches, plums, and light orange and lime leaf. Maltiness also comes in with some dense caramel and orange syrup. Light minty finish also occurs on some sips.

If like me, you love both good Irish whiskey and peated, Scottish single malts, then this is the one for you. Uniquely interesting flavour profile for an Irish. Peated, but not overly so, delicate flavours combine to give an Irish taste experience similar to that of a top shelf Japanese bottle. Only snag is the price point, have never seen this drop below £55 not inc. delivery, so perhaps a small price cut for overseas customers would help spread the word on this one. Unfortunately, very hard to find anywhere in England. Tasted for the first time in Cork City.

Nose: Underwhelming peat smoke on the first smell, followed by notes of red apple and subtle cream. Final notes of peat linger, but hints of vanilla can be smelled from beginning to end. Palate: The peat smoke is significantly more overpowering on the palate, but gives way to vanilla and bitterness from charred oak. After some time, notes of stone fruit appear, but the bitterness remains throughout the taste along with spices, mostly pepper. Finish: The smoke and oak persists through the finish, with slight bitterness of lemon rinds.