West Cork Glengarriff Series Peat Charred Cask Single Malt

A while back, I expressed interest in trying some unique Irish whiskies. @LeeEvolved gave me a nice list of Irish whiskies that stray from the norm. On this list were a handful of West Cork bottlings, a distillery I've been seeing more and more but have yet to try. Upon finding this, I decided to buy. It's a very interesting concept (not peated like Connemara but aged in peat-charred casks) and comes in one of the coolest of whiskey bottles I've seen to date. Nose: Very green and grassy. Some vanilla sweetness. A bit of spearmint. Some rubber; somewhere between tire rubber and the rubber on a turf football field. Cinnamon and black pepper. Hay, wet grass, and tree bark. Citrus notes of orange and grapefruit, along with banana. Faint smoke. Confusing nose, but has grown more cohesive as I've worked through the bottle. Palate: Vanilla and caramel. More of the grassy, earthy, green notes. Tree bark and hay. Some more spearmint. An interesting cured ham note. Pear, and, instead of apple, I'll go with Mott's apple sauce. More banana and grapefruit. Toffee and malt. Cinnamon, black pepper, and oak. Faintly smoky and ashy. Like with the nose, this has improved significantly since I've opened it. I initially got the rubbery notes from the nose, but am not getting them on this tasting. Finish: Almost like banana Laffy Taffy. Toffee, vanilla, and honey sweetness. More banana. Spearmint and wintergreen. Cinnamon, black pepper, and oak carry out this surprisingly long finish. Tough one to score. Admittedly, I came into this tasting ready to beat this one up. I had tried on three separate occasions, including earlier this week, and had not enjoyed it all. Yet, tonight, I had a very different experience with this one. Apart from the rubbery nose, everything just seemed more cohesive, balanced, and interesting. Not for nothing, this is the first time I've tasted this out of glencairn. I've said this before, but glassware can have a massive impact on your experience with a particular expression, some more than others. For this reason, I only write my reviews when using a glencairn. I've got a little over half a bottle left to figure this one out. Initially, I had this pegged at 2 stars flat. After having the benefit of time and a tasting from a glencairn, I've settled on a score of 2.75. I will likely update this review at least once. It's certainly a unique whiskey. Maybe not one I'd recommend, but it's growing on me.

"** Disclaimer: This review is what I would consider a “Quick Hit”- meaning I won’t have my usual in-depth notes that I usually like to take. The reason: this sample was poured at Whiskyfest DC on 4/17/18. All of these reviews will not be scored and I am actively looking to try them again at some point to do them more justice. This is one of the newest releases from my favorite Irish distillery: West Cork. They are an independently owned distillery and have a nice selection of single malt, Irish whiskey. This bottle utilized ex-peated whisky casks that were re-charred and then used to age their base spirit. The whiskey was really smooth and had a nice charred oak flavor to go along with the typical vanilla and barley notes found in most of their offerings. My palate was a bit fried by this point and I didn’t get much, if any, peat flavor. The fact the casks were re-charred probably limited any peat smoke to a minuscule amount, but it was still a great whiskey that I’d love to get more of. I believe they are distributed here in Virginia so it’s just matter of waiting and hoping the get this Glengarriff Series here soon.

Nose: Green apples. Hard candies. Waves of peat smoke, not too heavy though. Caramel. A little pepper. Some malt. A beautiful nose! Palate: Smokier than the nose. Fruitiness more complex, citrus coming through alongside the apple. More hints of pepper. Subtle sweetness of honey and taffy. All rounding out with malt. Finish: Medium-long. Very warm. Smoke and apple lingering. Overall Score: 91. This is delightful. I had been sold on West Cork from the first time I tried their Black Reserve but this has just raised the bar immensely for them. This is an absolutely delicious whiskey. I read some comments that made me a little weary but I certainly was not expecting a heavy peat nose and palate like a Laphroaig. So I wasn’t let down in any way. This is easily my new favorite of the West Cork selections.

A bold, Peated Irish Whiskey by West Cork Distillery in West Cork, Ireland initially matured in Sherry casks before being treated to a finishing period in casks charred with peat & bog oak from the Glengarriff Forest in Southern Ireland. It has an aromatic birth with notes of orange oil, fried banana, dry earth & a hint of cinnamon; while a bold & oily life adds notes of malt, quince, oak vanilla & ripe pear; that led to a long & spicy death with notes of peppery oak, dried apricot & a hint of smoke. July 2019 / September 2022

Very strong peat on the nose. The peat does mellow out a bit after your nose gets used to it. Strong peat taste and very bitter at first taste. The bitterness lingers long after swallowed. It also masks any other flavor other than the peat. I added a bit of water to see if that helped, still bitter. Added ice and it did make it more palatable but still very bitter. Some people might like this if they like bitter like IPAs but just too bitter for me.

PERFECT choice for a blind tasting event!!!!! Tastes like a nice lightly peated scotch smooth very sweet sherry like background briefly before the light Smokey peat shows. Now the debate for an Irish whiskey it is truly unique smooth and tasty 4/5 but for 80$ cad you can get a decent highland park or glenrothes something that tastes a littler better :) so compared to scotch 3.5/5