The Irishman Single Malt

So I thought I hadn’t reviewed The Irishman Single Malt before, thus when fellow TWS members were handed samples by a company representing them, I said sure.

Then I reviewed it, and re-read my old review. Oops. Not really. You see, these are made in small batches. Something like 1,000 bottles in total. So some variation is expected.

Maybe. Some companies are proud to vary, some have everyone from the CEO to the accounting analyst trying batches to ensure consistency.

Thus while we have a mistake, we have a chance to see if it varies. Maybe it’s changed. Maybe I’ve changed. Maybe you’ve changed. We don’t really know until we try it.

So let’s try this again, shall we?

Price: $71.95 CAD at the LCBO

Region: Ireland

Abv: 40%

Colour: 5YR 7/12

Nose: Fuzzy peach, papaya, cereal, brown sugar

Fruity. Quite sweet. The sherry casks are stronger on the nose than I remember. Still somewhat young, still has that cereal note of Irish whiskies, with the brown sugar to add more sugar.

Nice though. A good introduction to sherry and bourbon cask type whiskies.

Taste: Juicy fruit, earth, cereal/wheat

Ah, less complexity than last time. The more I have this, the more I get that super, fake fruit sweets and some raw earth and cereal notes. Not enjoying it as much. A lot thinner this time around.

Finish: Oak, bitter orange, mint, brown sugar

The good news is we have something other than fake fruit, raw earth, and more sugar. While acidity and oak are nice, it’s really bitter at the end. It’s now gone to the other end of the spectrum. Or the sweet one, at least.

Conclusion: Too bitter on the finish, too simple on the taste. Nice on the nose, but this isn’t their star batch. There’s some variation here. Granted there could be reasons for that. It could be this was sitting in a sample glass for a bit, maybe they were still tweaking, and maybe the fact I had the other in Ireland, where they keep some of the better Irish whiskies, and this one was in Canada, where we treat alcohol as a dead horse that we keep beating as long as it keeps spitting out money.

That all said, I now state more than last time that this is a try before you buy. I’ve now had it twice, and it’s a lot different each time. The good news is one of those times was good. The sad news is one of those times was this.

66/100

World Whiskey review #358, Ireland review #104, Whiskey review #1710