Irish Single Malt 1989 The Whisky Agency and Eiling Lim

The other evening I was fortunate enough to sit down with Igor from Heads & Tails with /u/devoz and /u/muaddib99. They probably posted theirs right away, and I have a backlog.

Doesn’t make me less of a man. At least that’s what my wife tells me.

This lineup was made up of whiskies chosen by Igor to show the level of quality and expertise that Heads & Tails chooses. He’s known as the “Canadian Cherry Picker” for his high level of quality in picking what Alberta can receive. We were lucky enough to try these and enjoy ourselves while he told us great stories of the whiskey industry.

The first whisky up was Irish Single Malt 27 The Whisky Agency and Eiling Lim. This is a non-disclosed distillery. I’m assuming it’s Cooley, only because they make up 99.999% of all Irish whiskey out there, right (Citation needed)

Eiling Lim is a independent whisky bottler. She’s the first independent bottler of Scotch in Malaysia. Her husband isn’t too shabby either, as he’s one of the most famous whisky collectors in the world.

But we’re talking about Mrs. Lim here. Her selection here is in collaboration with The Whisky Agency, a German Independent bottler. So we have quite the selection today.

Mrs. Lim chooses barrels based on 3 criteria: Better than Good taste, Highly quaffible to the point where “taking just a sip is an insult”, and a good price-quality ratio.

Beyond that, I don’t know much about this whisky. Save it was put into the barrel when I was in Kindergarten.

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

Price: $399.99 CAD at Kensington Wine Market

Distiller: Cooley

Region: Ireland

Aged 27 years

Distilled: 1989

Bottled: 2016

Abv: 45%

Colour: 5Y 9/8

Nose: Peach orchard, banana split, caramel, cutting wood, raspberry, lime cheesecake, aloe

Initial nose is a big punch of fruit. Takes some time to really give you more and more wood notes. Slightly creamy. Gone are the yeast notes, and left are more fresh wood notes. Eventually grows into some creamy flavours.

I question my note of Aloe, if only because there was an aloe plant while drinking this. So perhaps switch that with “soft plant”. Or keep aloe, I think it’s still fair, and I was 3 meters away from the thing.

Taste: Vanilla ice cream, ocean air, peach cobbler with spices, black pepper, creme caramel, green apple, kiwi

Big flavour explosion on the taste. Where the nose kept some back, the taste does not. Salt, spices, caramel, green fruit, and even more creaminess from the nose.

I’ll agree with Mrs. Lim: It would be an insult to only have a sip of this.

Finish: Cloves, cinnamon, almond biscotti, milk, walnut skin (recommendation from Igor), umami, black pepper

Short. Sadly short. Unfortunately short. The more I drank, the longer I wanted the finish to be.

Above “walnut skin” was mentioned by our tasting host. I’m actually allergic to walnuts, so I took his word for it.

Conclusion: A fruit forward nose that is complex with flavours that are very well mixed and even easier to pick out, all while being balance and not too overbearing. That followed by a taste that should be illegal, it’s that great.

All that and then a finish that I feel some Irish whiskies have issues with. Frankly this was on it’s way to being one of the best Irish whiskies I’ve ever had, save for the bitter, simpler, and short finish.

If you enjoy a whiskey and don’t care about aftertaste, then this is a no brainer. And I’ve seen reviews that state the same, and I agree with them.

However for me, I like the whole package, and while I adore the taste, and loved the nose, I have to dock marks for the short finish.

And then immediately start hunting down more things from Eiling Lim. Anyone got a couch I can sleep on in Malaysia?

84/100

World Whiskey review #210, Ireland review #37, Whiskey Network review #978