Midleton Barry Crockett Legacy 2016

This past year (2018) I had lots and lots of plans. Finish my accounting schooling, find a new job in a new career space, teach a gorilla to love, and review enough Irish Whiskey to finally hit 100 total reviews.

I’m happy to say I got most of that done, and someday Koko will come back to me. As for posting the reviews, I may have gotten behind what with learning derivatives and getting black hairs out of my teeth. So I’m posting them now! Yay!

Midleton Barry Crockett Legacy is a single pot still Irish whiskey. But it’s more than that. It’s also a dancer.

Wait, no, it’s actually just a Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey. Was reading the synopsis to Footloose while writing this.

But what’s with the name? Well, Barry Crockett is the Midleton master distiller. Which is pretty big, because Midleton hasn’t done that since John Jameson took the name of the Master Distiller. Which, according to my watch, is a long time.

So it’s an old whiskey that has quite the naming behind it. Also, it’s aged in a mixture of ex-Bourbon and Virgin Oak (or unseasoned American barrels, if you will) casks.

But how does it taste? Let’s see, shall we?

Price: $302.55 CAD at the LCBO

Region: Ireland

Bottled: 2016

Stated Age: 22-years-old

Cask Type: American bourbon barrels – Seasoned & Unseasoned

Number of Bottles: 2500

Abv: 46%

Colour: 2.5Y 8/10

Nose: Orange, sesame seeds, canned peaches, cinnamon

Interesting. I’m used to an Irish whiskey starting with bready notes. This is more acidic, sweet, and spice. Good amount of cereal/seed notes. Also the lower abv. here isn’t too evident. The pretty strong nose on this, immediately picked it up when I took the lid off.

Taste: Lime cordial, butter, mint, cinnamon bread

Strong lime/sugar syrup leads into butter, mint, and eventually that sweet bread aspect I was looking for. Good balance of flavours, tasty dram to it.

Finish: Peanut butter, cloves, cinnamon, thyme

Very creamy finish. Lots of peanut on it, giving me a hint of where the ex-bourbon casks came from (definitely the US [yeah, this is a joke]).

Spice, good length on it, nice herbal aspect to keep you awake.

Conclusion: Overall nice and creamy whiskey that seems to be going to a more subtle route than big flavours of other Midleton whiskies. Strong enough flavours that it’s not losing you, but don’t drink this thinking it’s going to knock down your door and demand all your tastebuds.

Instead, you get a well balanced, just complex enough whiskey. If you’re a fan of what Ireland can offer for good whiskies, then this is a nice addition to your shelf. It’s the kind that whiskey geeks will enjoy and non-whiskey drinkers will find really nice. You can dissect it and you won’t find a rough edge, which is surprising given the virgin oak casks used.

All in all, I was happy with this. Yes, I’ve had whiskies, even from Ireland, and even from Midleton, that are more complex, and it may have you pining for some big flavour. But it doesn’t do that, so take it or leave it.

82/100

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