Adelphi Limerick Slaney 1991 23 (Toronto Whisky Society Review Set #1)

As part of the Toronto Whisky Society, we had a small getogether and drank our fucking faces off.

Like gentlemen and ladies and all that shit, you know? All hosted by one of our members, /u/devoz and his amazing wife.

Each of us brought a bottle to drink. And that was too many. So I understand if you take my reviews with a grain of salt. Or two.

We started, as we all should start, with a questionable whisky of lower proof and reviews that were… iffy.

Thanks to /u/xile_ for bringing Adelphi Limerick Slaney 1991 23. I was actually considering buying/splitting some of it before the tasting, so he showed up with some.

Ireland. Specifically Irish. More Specifically Irish Whiskey. Certain things come to mind when I review an Irish Whiskey:

Am I going to offend someone from North America with 1/8th Irish blood?
How many ways can I say “Yeast” and “Bread Dough” without seeming repetitive?
Which distillery made this, and does Cooley still remember they own it?
How many downvotes will by review get on Reddit because there’s a group of people who really, really don’t like Irish Whiskey?
Should I be playing this Cranberries album over and over again?

And many other things. But mostly those. And if children steal short Irish people’s sugar laden cereal.

This whiskey is from an undisclosed distillery that is most likely owned by Cooley. Most likely. Granted the Indians lost, and so did Hillary, so maybe take that with a grain of salt.

So, where does the name come from? Well at one time Adelphi was owned by Archibald Walker, who also owned the Irish distillery Limerick. I assume it was in Galway. And is now owned by Cooley.

And that’s about all, other than the nitty gritty (which I list out for you ungrateful buggers). Adelphi ain’t telling and I’ve learned to stop asking.

So let’s see how this tastes, shall we?

Price: N/A at the LCBO,

Region: Ireland

Cask no. 10694

Abv: 48.3%

Colour: 10YR 7/10

Nose: Pineapple, mango, creamed wheat, chocolate, honey, coconut

Very complex nose. And… wait, no yeast note. Yes, it’s dry on the nose, and has dry elements (honey, coconut). However… no yeast.

Well there goes half my fucking jokes. Thanks Adelphi.

Stronger nose than I’m used to on Irish, cask strength or not. This has really evolved with time.

Taste: Raisin, rum cake, coconut squares, rice pudding

Really complex. Given more time I’d list out more desserts, make myself hungry, eat too much sweets, and then cry and drink more.

Luckily I had the skinny buggers around me to keep me going. Nice strong, molasses rich notes.

Finish: Wood, pineapple, wheat, coconut, vanilla, burnt brown sugar, sap, unripe fruit

The taste was complex and had different complex notes. The finish deconstructs each of those notes, and gives you all of them. Kinda like when you’re sad and lazy and can’t bake a cake, so you just eat the sugar yourself. And cry.

There’s a flavour in here that’s not easy to pick out. It’s like unripe fruit or when you make a smoothie and there’s chunks. Or the brown sugar has hardened. It’s quite unique.

Conclusion: Wow. Probably one of my favourite Irish whiskies ever. Not super complex, but maybe I’m expecting too much. The lower Abv given the age tells me the Angel’s may have taken away quite a bit.

Or perhaps the complexity needs time, and I missed that. Or maybe I wanted just a little bit more. I don’t know.

Even if you aren’t an Irish Whiskey fan, try this. It’s quite tasty. It has a lot of the different, complex notes that I’ve come to not expect from Irish whiskies. It’s different, and fun, and the finish goes on a long time.

No yeast, probably didn’t offend all the Irish Americans, Cooley still probably made it, downvotes are going to happen anyway, and Zombie sounds better as a metal song.

All is right in the world.

86/100

World Whiskey review #171, Ireland review #31, Whiskey Network review #827