December Whiskey of the Month!

My November Whiskey of the Month was so good I decided to go back to the same West Cork Distillers (website) for my December Whiskey of the Month! I wrote about this relatively recently set up distillery (22 years ago) in my November blog, if you haven't already read it, there's some background to West Cork Distillers and the 3 lads who set it up in that blog.  

West Cork Distillers Glengarriff Series Bog Oak Charred Cask Single Malt Irish Whiskey (43.0%) being an Irish Whiskey, is triple distilled using locally grown grain; the distilling process is excellently explained in detail on their website. The Bog Oak Charred Cask Single Malt Whiskey is then matured in casks before bottling, adding colour, flavours and complexity. This one is first matured in sherry casks for at least 30 months, and then for a further 4-6 months in unique 'bog oak charred' casks; indeed, being an Irish whiskey it has to be matured for at least 3 years. The casks they use come from the USA, but they are charred on the inside, on the Irish side of the North Atlantic, using oak harvested from the local boglands of Glengarriff.

So, what was my second whiskey from West Cork Distillers like? Aroma-wise I got toffee and butterscotch, and a very subtle wood and spiciness, and an even more subtle smokiness. Indeed, I got little of the smokiness in aroma and taste apparently described in some other reviews, but we do all have very different palates! The flavour of this very smooth whiskey was sweet to start with, toffee, butterscotch, stoned fruits, pear and apple, and with a lovely dry warm finish.

Another pretty damn good Irish Whiskey, sláinte! 😁

November Whiskey of the Month

I was going to save this whiskey for Christmas, but following arduous negotiations with DHL, who were delivering it from The Single Malt Shop in Dublin (from whom I bought the bottle), after the first failed attempt to deliver, apparently it arrived too late at DHL locally to be put on the delivery van that day (fair enough), I arranged another date. However, following a failed attempt to deliver my bottle just after 4.00 pm on the agreed day, I was told they were sorry, but no-one was in! 😏 I'll explain why I was a wee bit peeved, well, it was because I had agreed the delivery to go to a friend's pub, with staffing 07.00-23.30, and I was there at the time of delivery, when they found no one in! So, I again rang DHL and the lad I talked to said he could see the delivery address was a pub and that he would make sure there was a note to the driver that the delivery address was a pub. Anyway, one week after it was first meant to be delivered the package arrived, and I couldn't resist opening the bottle and, as you can see from the image above, I started drinking this whiskey a wee bit earlier than intended, my apologies for this drawn out story!

As soon as I opened the bottle I was grateful I had, but more of that in the following paragraphs. This Irish Whiskey is from an independent distillery in Skibbereen in County Cork that was set up over 20 years ago in 2003 by 3 pals since childhood. Originally they distilled in a room in one of their homes in 2 small stills they had bought from a Swiss schnapps producer, but since then they set up a much larger distilling kit in Skibbereen in 2014 and their business has expanded exponentially; this is now West Cork Distillers (website). 

Their 7-Year-Old Single Malt Whiskey (46.0%) is made using locally grown grain, which is mashed in to release the sugars, and then fermented by added yeast to the mash; a process very similar to brewing ales, and explained in much more detail on their website. The main difference with ale, of course, is then the distilling process begins, and this being an Irish Whiskey, it is triple distilled, as most are. West Cork's 7-Year-Old is then matured before bottling, adding colour, flavours and complexity; first aged for 4 years in Bodega Olorosso Sherry casks, and then for a further 3 years in first fill Bourbon casks.

So, what is this whiskey like? Aroma-wise I got an immediate sweetness in the nose like Bakewell Tart, and the taste was also sweet to start with, almonds and fruits, and an almost butterscotch caramel flavour, certainly very much the cherries and marzipan that was hinted at in the aroma. But don't be fooled by this incredibly smooth and easy to drink whiskey, because the 46.0% strength alcohol makes itself very obvious as it goes down with a lovely warming finish.

Pretty damn good, sláinte! 😁