Category Archives: Ireland

vomFASS – Mackmyra Duo + Teeling

Posted on by
1

Back in the days that I regularly travelled to Singapore, I heard about an interesting store – vomFASS – where you could find specialty spirits, oils, vinegars and more!

A friend in Indonesia even purchased one of their whisky blends which we enjoyed one fine evening in Jakarta! However I somehow never made it to their Singapore shop… I was certainly curious, but there was always some other work or play priority…

Fast forward several years and now I – remarkably and conveniently – live nearby a vomFASS shop in Nurnberg, Germany!  For those who haven’t yet encountered these folks, over the last 25+ years, they’ve grown far beyond Germany with franchises scattered around 20 odd countries. The concept remains – purchase both bottle and liquid, return to refill your bottle from the cask you liked – if still available – or try something new.

Naturally I couldn’t resist and found myself picking up a trio!

So what made it into a wee 100 ml “barrel to bottle” vomFASS experience?

  • Mackmyra “Valbo” 42.5%
  • Teeling Reserve Small Batch Sherry 16 year 43%
  • Mackmyra “Kungstorv” Peated 47%

Curious? Read on… Continue reading →

Vita Dulcis 23 – Ireland’s Connemara Peated 40%

Posted on by
2

Over the years, Connemara just keeps popping up in various forums… including here with a guest post in 2016 and again later that year. However it has been a few years since I’ve sat down and given proper consideration to this lightly peated Irish dram.

Ireland – Connemara Original Peated 40%

  • Nose – Briney, sweet cereals, hint of smoke
  • Palate – Well… that’s a kick! Sweet, light peat with a cinnamon edge
  • Finish – That briney quality comes back

OK… I remember Connemara as being quite a light touch with peat. And it is true – this isn’t heavily peated. However it has much more kick than I remembered. Could it be there has been a shift in peat levels? A little more PPM earlier, then a few years with less and then back to a heavier hand? Or just mood and environment linked.. either way, this was certainly a sharper peat than I remembered on previous brushes.

Distillery official tasting notes?

An aroma of sweet barley with wafts of peaty smoke, kippers and well baked apple crumble. Tastes of lightly honey sweet, subdued clean rather than sooty smoke with peaty vegetal notes, sweet barley water, light spice and vanilla oak.

If you don’t want to miss a post, why not follow Whisky Lady on:

Vita Dulcis 22 – Ireland’s The Quiet Man “An Culchists” 12 years 46%

Posted on by
2

Back in 2018, I met Michael Morris of The Quiet Man on his 1st trip to Mumbai, India. It was a relatively low key gathering that enabled a few different discussions on the Irish whisky industry and a chance to sample their 8 year old – naturally not yet their spirit but with whiskies blended in a style they hope to achieve..

So I was curious to see how their journey has progressed – with this wee mini in my Vita Dulcis 2020 Advent Calendar.

Ireland – The Quiet Man “An Culchists” 12 years 46%

  • Nose – Initially a bit sharp, then honey, custard, baked goods – like butter brioche or fresh hot from the oven sour dough
  • Palate – A kick of chilli spice, then citrus, followed by chocolate orange like those Terry Christmas chocolates, a bit of cracked black pepper, wood
  • Finish – Honey

Overall it is pleasant, nothing particularly outstanding. What will be more interesting to explore is once they have their own spirit out in the world.

What more do we know? To be honest, the Quiet Man website wasn’t working for me beyond their landing page, so I couldn’t see if they provided any official tasting notes for this expression. I did find on a German website that it is ex-bourbon, though naturally the distillery is not disclosed.

If you don’t want to miss a post, why not follow Whisky Lady on:

Vita Dulcis 21 – Ireland’s Hyde No 5 Burgandy Cask 46%

Posted on by
Reply

The Irish whisky industry is going through a resurgence with a combination of new distilleries and brands – some with distilleries ‘to be’. Hyde describes their approach as:

At HYDE, we carefully hand select only the very finest Irish whiskey, made by only the very best Irish whiskey distilleries, which we then finish in vintage oak casks which we source directly from distilleries and bodegas around the world.

I had the pleasure of meeting a couple gents from Hyde back in 2017 during an exploratory trip to Mumbai. They kindly sent a bottle of their No 6 – back in the day when it was possible to ship liquor from other parts of the world to India. I also had an opportunity to briefly sample this expression No 5 in a special speed tasting experiment.

I was curious to see how that quick memory from three years ago compared with the miniature in the Vita Dulcis 2020 Advent Calendar.

Ireland – Hyde No 5 “The Aras” Burgundy Cask Finish 46% – Single Grain Whiskey

  • Nose – Initially a touch sharp with spice, then a bit of vanilla and faint fruits
  • Palate – Starts a bit spice, roasted wood, apples
  • Finish – Again – quite spicy

i checked my notes from my previous ‘speed taste’ – was quite similar. In both cases, there was nothing that really stood out and the burgundy influence was hardly discernible.

What do the Hyde folks have to say about this expression?

Hyde No.5 is a triple distilled, Single grain, Irish whiskey from one single distillery location. Originally distilled in a traditional “Coffey” Copper Column still from pure Corn / maize grain.

Matured for a minimum of 6 years in flame charred, first fill, ex-bourbon casks from Kentucky in the U.S.A. before being ‘finished’ for a further 6 months in vintage BURGUNDY French red wine casks.

These Pinot Noir red wine casks come from the BURGUNDY region of France from the Côte d’Or vineyards near Dijon, France.

What about the Hyde team’s official tasting notes?

  • Nose : Spiced with notes of red berry fruit, vanilla, and toasted oak.
  • Taste : A creamy nutty palette entry with notes of sweet custard, apple peel, red berries and orange blossom honey.
  • Finish : A nice long satisfying finish of plum, jam and spice ending with a silky combination of oak and barley

As for my earlier encounters with Hyde? Just the two:

If you don’t want to miss a post, why not follow Whisky Lady on:

Vita Dulcis 20 – Ireland’s Roe + Co Cask Strength 2019 Edition 59.1%

Posted on by
Reply

This was my first brush with Roe & Co from Dublin – creators of Irish whisky blends. The miniature from the Vita Dulcis 2020 Advent Calendar was their 2019 Cask Strength edition.

Ireland – Roe & Co Cask Strength Limited Release 2019 Edition 59.1%

  • Colour – Light straw
  • Nose – Sharp, crisp fruits and hint of flowers, cereals – particularly hay, ginger, vanilla custard
  • Palate – Again sharp, pine wood, apples
  • Finish – Spice

Nearly all of the whiskies in this calendar were between 40 – 46% and I simply wasn’t even tempted to add water. However with this one, given it is a bit ‘hot’, thought to see how it fares.

With water? It helped open it up further, smoothed out the palate and before I knew it, my wee 2ml teaser was gone!

On their website, they provide relatively limited details:

This blended whiskey has pronounced flavours of orchard fruit, layers of creamy vanilla and warming woody notes.

And there you have it!

If you don’t want to miss a post, why not follow Whisky Lady on:

Method and Madness Pot Still Chestnut 46%

Posted on by
Reply

The last in our Method and Madness evening was a revisit of their Pot Still Chestnut Finish. We first tried it a few months ago so when we decided on the tasting order, thought to close with this one.

Method and Madness Pot Still Chestnut Finish 46%

  • Colour – Dark gold
  • Nose – When first poured had that damp cloth aroma, then shifted into sweet pink bubble gum, very sweet candy, jammy, a bit dusty with a dash of cinnamon
  • Palate – Fruity, more of that sweet berry jam, a bit oily
  • Finish – Finally a finish!

Overall we were surprised with how enjoyable we found it as hadn’t been terribly impressed in our initial experience. We were happy to be pleasantly surprised – particularly as it was a good one to sip while puffing on a cigar.

What did the folks over at Midleton have to say?

A Single Pot Still whiskey aged in chestnut casks, a combination of what we’ve always done in Midleton and what we’ve never tried before. It’s not often we stray from the traditional oak, but one sip suggests it was well worth the deviation.

  • Nose – Red liquorice laces, fresh rosemary and mint, grated root ginger
  • Taste – Sweet fruit and spice, cinnamon toast, ripe banana
  • Finish – Aromatic green tea, dissipating fruit and spice, rich wood farewell

This bottle was purchased in London at the Whisky Exchange, currently available for £62.75 and opened in November 2019.

What else did we try in our Method and Madness evening?

Curious to know more? Why not follow Whisky Lady on:

Method and Madness Pot Still Hungarian Oak 46%

Posted on by
Reply

Midleton Distillery in Ireland has an experimental line called Method and Madness. They play around with a base of grain, single malt or pot still whiskey, typically matured in ex-bourbon barrels then finished in another barrel. In this case it was a pot still whisky finished in oak from Hungary.

What did we discover?

Method and Madness Pot Still Hungarian Oak Finish 46%

  • Colour – Yellow straw
  • Nose – First whiff and it came across as quite distinctive – varnish but not your typical old wood polish or young sharp varnish – instead something else. Honeycomb, wood shavings, vegetal oils… shifting into ripe banana mash then fried banana chips. After the 1st sip
  • Palate – A nice spice, sweet liquorice, sweet and smooth
  • Finish – Practically absent, just warm
  • Water – Suddenly what made this whiskey interesting was just gone! The aromas simply faded into nearly nothing. On the palate it softened the flavour but… so what?

No question this came across as being on the young side but the aromas were interesting, had the best mouthfeel of the Method and Madness series so far however the finish was warm but not much more. Overall we decided this was a pleasant but innocuous whiskey.

We set it aside to revisit and guess what? It regained a bit of its character and did rather well paired with a cigar. Just goes to show how it important it is to try different things to see what works best for a particular dram.

What did the folks over at Midleton have to say?

The quest for uncommon casks led us to the Carpathian Mountains of Hungary and the rich volcanic soils that give rise to Quercus Petraea, Virgin Hungarian Oak and Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey – a curious combination, with a very special outcome.

This Limited Edition release is a ‘World- First’ for Irish Whiskey; a Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey aged in Bourbon Barrels and finished in Virgin Hungarian Oak.

  • Nose – Treacle toffee, toasted coconut, campfire ashes
  • Taste – Silky smooth richness, bittersweet liquorice, dry woodland notes
  • Finish – Dissipating spice, toasted oak, mountain mist

This bottle was purchased in London at the Whisky Exchange, currently available for £80.95 and opened in November 2019.

What else did we try in our Method and Madness evening?

Curious to know more? Why not follow Whisky Lady on:

Method and Madness Single Malt 46%

Posted on by
Reply

Our Irish Method and Madness quartet explored the core trio plus on limited edition. We began with the Single Grain and moved on to this Single Malt.

What did we think?

Method and Madness Single Malt French Limousin Oak Finish 46%

  • Colour – Bright light gold
  • Nose – Honey mash, oats, vanilla, young varnish. After the 1st sip, unripened bananas, raw sawdust, oatmeal porridge with honey
  • Palate – Started a bit bitter with peach pits, linseed oil
  • Finish – The odd bitter oil continued in the finish

The aromas were quite straight forward with little variation – nothing wrong with it but overall unremarkable. Our impression was of a young uncomplex dram. While not particularly ‘friendly’, there was no harshness found in some immature malts.

We set it aside and continued tasting the other Method and Madness whiskies. When we revisited, it had settled in quite nicely and revealed a nice honey quality, a bit of spice, holding its own. Not bad after all then!

What did the folks over at Midleton have to say?

A Single Malt whiskey laid down in Midleton in 2002 finished in a French Limousin Oak. A first for us, resulting in light perfume notes giving way to dry barley and ice cream cone wafer.

  • Nose – Freshly shelled peanut, cereal malt aroma
  • Taste – Cracked cinnamon stick, ice cream cone wafer
  • Finish – Fragrant bon bons, a hint of toasted barley 

Would I agree with their tasting notes? Definitely about the cereal but not so much the balance.

We opened this in November 2019 from a bottle purchased in London at the Whisky Exchange. You can still find it for approx £70.

What else did we explore in our Method and Madness evening?

Curious to know more? Why not follow Whisky Lady on:

Method and Madness Single Grain 46%

Posted on by
2

First up in our Irish Method and Madness quartet was a single grain, matured in ex-bourbon barrels then finished in virgin Spanish oak.

What did we think?

Method and Madness Single Grain Virigin Spanish Oak Finish 46%

  • Colour – Straw
  • Nose – We immediately thought of veggie bhajia, a deep fried desi savoury snack made with besan (chickpea flour)! Behind the vegetable oil, we found some honey, a hint of floral fragrance, with a herbal bitterness. After the 1st sip, the vegetal quality gave way to a nutty vanilla toffee aroma.. shifting into balsa wood or fresh pine
  • Palate – First impression was banana with sharp spice, then it calmed down revealing a bitter ajwain element. A few sips in and the wood increasingly came to the forefront with a bit of vanilla pudding or honey depending on the sip
  • Finish – Soft feeling, coats with warmth but nothing very specifically discernible, more like a shadow of the woody palate than anything distinctive, yet the impression remained
  • Water – Some added water and one thought it completely transformed the grain. Certainly it smoothed and rounded it out more, the spice remained but was tempered and not so honeyed

Overall we found there was more character than expected in a grain. The wood certainly came through and could very well be the influence of the time spent in virgin Spanish oak casks.

And the revisit? Nope! Not to our taste. Let’s just say there was a funky sour quality that was thankfully completely missing in our original tasting.

What did the folks over at Midleton have to say?

This release asked the question: What if we take a step away from the familiar with a Single Grain whiskey aged in Virgin Spanish Oak. Without giving too much away, the two made very good partners, with a taste of gentle wood spice playing off the natural sweetness of the grain.

  • Nose – New pencil shavings, light rose petal, fresh rain on pine
  • Taste – Warm toasted oak, fresh peeled grapefruit, zesty wood spices
  • Finish – Sweet cereal, clove spiciness, fresh mint

Would we agree? We certainly found the woodsy quality, floral hint and spice, however we certainly didn’t find the grapefruit on the palate though perhaps our interpretation was bitter with out the citrus element. Overall we were glad to have a chance to try but this wouldn’t be one we would run out and buy again.

This bottle was purchased in London at the Whisky Exchange, currently available for £43.75 and opened in November 2019.

What else did we try in our Method and Madness evening?

Curious to know more? Why not follow Whisky Lady on:

Teeling Brabazon Bottling 49.5% – Sherry Twist?

Posted on by
Reply

For those who make it to Ireland and start to explore beyond the big daddy Midleton, known best for its Jameson brand, there are a plethora of options… yet still only a small yet growing number of distillers.

Teeling is one of them and relatively recently launched a new “Brabazon Bottling” series – to explore maturation experiments with fortified wine – kicking off with this Sherry avatar and then launching a Port version for the 2nd series. Our host had tried both and knew to reverse the tasting order so we had the 2nd first and the 1st second. But what matters more than series and tasting order is what we thought!

Teeling Brabazon Sherry 49.5% (Series 1, 02/2018)

  • Nose – Heavier than the Port, dark plums, fruity, sharp cheddar, direct, liquorice, black olives or capers… and after the 1st sip, it was an explosion of Christmas qualities, dried fruits, cinnamon, cloves, ginger…. then settling into a caramel with a hint of salt and toast
  • Palate – Usual… like a sweet apple and ginger chutney, kiwis, cloves, chocolate… while wasn’t massively complex, it had a strong character, quite tasty with a light Christmas pudding
  • Finish – Beautiful! The finish was really long… really really long… with a curl of liquorice

Early reactions to this one after the 1st sip was “I like it! I really like it!” With comments about how it simply envelops into a nice warm hug… In many ways it was the yin to the yang of the Port with a slower start on the nose, blooming fully on the palate, and slowly tapering into a lingering finish.

Which sparked a lively comparison between the two non-chill filtered Brabazon Bottling boys… Which was preferred? Why?

Some were decidedly against this one. Finding it a bit challenging and lacking in a certain something required to make an appealing tipple. Others had the opposite reaction, really enjoying it.

I’ll admit I was in the 2nd camp and found it an interesting twist on the sociable quality I’ve come to expect from Teeling. 

And what do the folks at Teeling have to say?

The Brabazon Bottling Series is a limited edition collection of unique Irish Single Malts capturing the full impact and flavour crafted through fortified wine cask maturation.

Series No. 1 focuses on sherry cask maturation and consists of a range of carefully selected sherry cask aged whiskeys producing a full flavoured sherry influenced Irish Single Malt. This bottling consists of a vatting of 6 different sherry casks, carefully chosen for their complementary character. The Brabazon Bottling Series 1 is bottled at 49.5% ABV with no chill filtration allowing for all the natural flavours of this whiskey to be retained. Limited to just 12,500 bottles, this is a whiskey to savour.

Teeling’s Tasting Notes:

  • Nose – Earthy dried fruit and roasted hazelnut, with marmalade, peach, plum and burnt toffee.
  • Taste – A rich sherry sweetness, red berries, nuttiness and toffee, with a hint of of liquorice and clove.
  • Finish – Lingering mixed spice, trail-mix, crisped marshmallow, dry tannins and spice with toasted wood.

What else was picked up Whisky Ladies Irish Trio:

Interested in receiving more Whisky Lady posts? Why not follow on: