Glendalough Double Barrel Single Grain

N: The barrels rule the day here: just about equal parts oaky bourbon and silky red fruit, favoring the oak just slightly. The two are married here. I find it really tough to separate the two profiles. So you end up with a woodsy cherry, orchard fruit that's still in the orchard, little bit of black AND red licorice (never gotten that before). It's all interesting and fun, but doesn't have a lot of depth (which is fine, considering the price). P: Smooth and rich. Leans even more toward bourbon on the palate than the nose. Quick hit of caramel, vanilla, cherry, before the anise/black licorice drops in and lingers. Caramel comes back atop a bread pudding profile. Finish is sweet with lots of red fruit, dash of cayenne pepper, and a lingering chocolate powder. This is tasty, cheap, unique, interesting. It is not complicated, so it can't really compete with drams higher up the price scale. But the craft is on display - the distillery has clearly put thought and effort into making something that approaches an Irish twist on a traditional bourbon, and affordable at that. The end result is better than a cheap bourbon or a cheap Irish whiskey, but not better than the upper-middle range of either. Not even close, really. But it's not trying for that. It's just an interesting outlier. I'm good with that. Might even pick it up again because I can't really think of anything else quite like it, especially at the price. Long story short: this is far from amazing, but unique, interesting, and super easy to enjoy at the same time. Perfect for a sub $25 bottle.

Nose - cereal grain, dusty corn, fig, cashew, bitter herbal notes, caramel, orange zest, vanilla, ethanol, oat, cinnamon, honey, apple, mild to moderate ethanol burn. Taste - cereal grain, honey, vanilla cream, caramel, cinnamon, fig, bitter herbal notes, ethanol, white pepper, corn bread, ginger, apple, cherry, cashew, mild to moderate alcohol bite, finishing medium short with cereal grain, light caramel, and drying herbal flavors. I’m generally not a fan of young Irish whiskies or single grain whiskies, so I don’t have high hopes for this. The nose is very grainy and corny, with some light baking spices, caramel, and a hint of sherried fruit. The palate is equally grainy, with some nice vanilla cream and nutty notes before turning dry and bitter on the finish. This isn’t great, but it’s not terrible either. It’s better than the Proper Twelve I tried yesterday, and it’s probably closer in quality to Jameson and Bushmills Original for me. There are nice, honeyed fruity and nutty aromas and flavors, but the overwhelming, youthful grainy and drying qualities hold this back from receiving anything higher than an average score. Another big thank you to @ContemplativeFox for providing the generous sample!

Rating: 9/23 I'm skeptical of this, but a little optimistic. I've heard some good things about Glendalough, but nothing that's made me think it was likely to be worth the price being asked. I finally picked this up because it was on sale. N: Alcohol, a tad oily, and just a hint of that Sipsmith gin mustiness bordering on fishiness. Really digging into it, there's a little bit of orange, but it's faint. P: The alcohol definitely hits. It's kind of oily with some sweet red fruit and a bit of nuttiness. It tastes very young. Not a very complex palate. Decently viscous and pretty smooth aside from a few points that give me a bit of a burn. I do get a hint of that musty fishiness, but it's so so faint. F: The alcohol lingers with a bit of a burn. A bit of lingering oiliness and a dash of fruity sweetness. - Conclusion - I'd take this over Proper No. Twelve, but this is just borderline drinkable. I'm thinking a 9 to 11. Most likely a 9 or 10. I'm leaning toward a 9. Yeah, definitely not an 11. After a lot of contemplation, I'm just not that convinced that this is better than Proper No. Twelve. So I'm giving it a 9.

I'm not a fan of wine at all, so I always avoided Sherry Cask whiskies. Imagine my disappointment when I discovered that the Irish I picked up on a whim was in fact, sherry cask! Then one day I decided to actually open my bottle of Glendalough, and my 'whiskey trajectory' changed forever. Like other reviewers have said, this is a relatively 'hot' whiskey, but the strength of the flavours is appropriately calibrated to the heat. The thing that immediately pulled me in was the general nuttiness and strong almost milky eggnog note on the finish.

Its ok to me has a little of an off putting taste. Not sure how to describe it but wont be buying it again. To many in that price range that are better. Sexton & Slane are better. For a few dollar more Tullamore jameson Bushmills. Heck even Killebeggan single grain and cheaper is better. Sorry but its not very good!

Very little nose but boy does this kick the caramel and the fruit with just the right amount of heat. We were tasting this at the beach yesterday after sailing so perhaps the setting helped but it was throughly embraced by both scotch and bourbon fans as a most enjoyable dram. The bottle was half gone ….