Irish Exclusive Malts 12 2003 Creative Whisky Company

Thanks to /u/throwboats for pouring me this dram.

This past year (2018) I had lots and lots of plans. Finish my accounting schooling, find a new job in a new career space, figure out what Moon cheese is, and review enough Irish Whiskey to finally hit 100 total reviews.

I’m happy to say I got most of that done, and I now have knowledge not meant for mortal minds. As for posting the reviews, I may have gotten behind what with learning derivatives and reading the back of the true Magna Carta. So I’m posting them now! Yay!

In deciding I was going to hit 100 Irish whiskey reviews I ran into a snag: That is, I needed 100 of them. And I wanted them to be varied. A good melange, if you will.

So upon reading about Irish Exclusive Malts 12 2003 Creative Whisky Company I decided I should try and go for it. And wouldn’t you know, I knew someone with a bottle, and they poured me a sample.

But where is it from? Cooley, though sadly nothing beyond that, or at least undisclosed the specifics. We know it’s a single malt, we know that it was in a refill ex-sherry hogshead, and we know that it was in Ireland. We also know that the Creative Whisky Company released it at natural cask strength, non-chill filtered and with no added colour.

That’s enough for me, let’s see how it tastes, shall we?

Price: N/A at the LCBO

Distillery: Cooley Distillery

Vintage: 15.12.2003

Bottled: 02.2016

Cask Type: Refill Ex-Sherry Hogshead

Cask Number: 509

Number of bottles: 336

Abv: 53.6%

Colour: 10YR 6/10

Nose: Lilacs, brown sugar, lemon candy, bubblegum, charred meat Floral, light candy notes. There are some richer flavours that pop up every so often. Some charred meat with water. But mostly this is lighter and candy-like.

Odd for a strong Irish whiskey, but not turning me away. Reminds me of Lowland whiskies.

Taste: Oak, farmyard, lemon zest, jujubes, mango, butterscotch

Well here’s a left turn. Still has that candy, but more manure and oak forward. Think stepping out of a candy shop to a field filled with sheep.

You know that thing you do all the time. Water makes it even sweeter.

Finish: Swedish berries, old barn, black liquorice, brown sugar, tobacco/mint

Long, really long, with big tobacco notes that show up and wind their way. Now I’m bad at naming the tobacco, so is there a minty, spice-forward version. I’ll now breathe in with my okay lungs, but not for long as my liver is a bit stingy at the moment.

Richer notes, but the candy is still here.

Conclusion: Probably would be one of the best Irish whiskies I’ve ever had if I enjoyed tobacco. Which as constant readers will note I don’t. I have an issue with it, thus why I don’t really go into detail on tobacco notes, because I don’t know. I just know that one distinct flavour of it and it turned me off.

That said, wow this is a good whiskey. Seriously interesting, rich evocative flavours, tons of interesting things going on. This is the kind of whiskey you can sit back and dissect for hours at a time. Truly lovely wood notes, wonderful inviting nose, and really something for everyone.

85/100

World Whiskey review #356, Ireland review #102, Whiskey review #1684