With Ardbeg Committee Releases well beyond my price range I’ll settle for one of their core bottlings – Wee Beastie – and in a naggin bottle too!
Simply pouring this whisky results in strong aromas of coastal peat smoke wafting around.
It’s surprisingly delicate on the palate – before that gorgeous smokiness gradually takes over.
Wee Beastie leaves with a very dry prickliness immediately making you want more!
A Monster Of A Dram indeed!
Sláinte
Sheep Dip’s an old friend of mine.
The tongue-in-cheek name attracted me to this blended malt & was rewarded with an easy going honeyed experience augmented by a rich maltiness.
An Islay version caught my eye – a kind reader generously sent a sample.
The peat smoke was evident – but rather subdued.
More entertaining on the palate. Crisp, sweet & drying.
It’s on the finish that Islay Sheep Dip came alive for me. A gorgeous explosion of smokey goodness danced merrily away to a lip smacking finalé.
Nice!
Another entertaining brand from the Ian MacLeod stable.
Sláinte
Islay bottle image courtesy CelticWhiskeyShop. All others authors own.
Peat smoke.
It’s in fierce short supply as a flavour profile in Irish Whiskey.
Connemara flew the flag for many a year.
West Cork’s Peat Charred Cask used Irish Turf to flavour their barrels.
And lately WD O’Connell’s Bill Phil landed a smokey smacker.
But they’re all Single Malts.
The big selling smokey blend market was effectively abandoned.
Inishowen did a gorgeous soft smoker from a few years ago.
Three Crowns Peated uses Islay casks to great results.
But actual peat dried barley in an Irish Blended Whiskey was hard got.
Step forward The Legendary Dark Silkie Smokey!
I took it for a whirl!
That distinctive coastal peat aroma greeted me.
Smooth easy & sweet on the palate.
A softly glowing peat fire grew in intensity – slowly drying out – adding a few prickly spices along the way – before leaving in a blaze of glory.
Dark Silkie is not for the faint hearted.
This is full on unapologetic smoke for the peatheads out there.
Fantastic!
Sláinte
After my initial findings with a washed out bottle of Islay Storm from last year – available here – I chanced upon a miniature bottle sporting a shiny new label & thought I’d check it out.
I still had the old bottle – so did a comparison.
First off – the older bottle is slightly darker.
More added caramel?
Longer in the cask?
A completely different source of single malt?
All of the above?
Who knows?
Being an independent bottling for C.S. James & Sons Ltd of Glasgow there is no guarantee what was in the old bottle is the same as the new. It’s the same for all bottlings – they change & evolve -and I have no problem with that.
On the nose the miniature was cleaner, fresher & more lively.
A lovely bright & full on smoky peat hit enveloped my palate from the start. Briny & a tad sweet at the end – but very enjoyable.
The old bottle was dull & flat in comparison. Only on the finish did the ashy peat rise up to give some life to the washed out contents.
If you enjoy a smoky number – Islay Storm clearly delivers.
Just drink your bottle in timely fashion to get the full effect!
Sláinte
The Ileach can mean a number of things.
The Ileach – the people of Islay – an island off the west coast of Scotland.
The Ileach – an independent newspaper read on Islay.
The Ileach – a pleasantly sweet peated whisky distilled in one of the nine whisky distilleries on Islay.
The nine are – in alphabetical order;
Lagavulin and
If you’re looking for something a bit more punchier – The Ileach Cask Strength at 58% is yer man.
Packing a lot more peat for yer pennies – or should that be pounds?
I picked up my miniature at the Wee Couper Of Fife Whiskey Shop in Anstruther last summer.
They kindly gave me a taster of the Cask Strength Ileach.
Smashing!
Sláinte
I’m a big fan of miniatures.
The opportunity to try out a range of styles – or in this case regions – before committing to a full bottle is always a treat.
Having said that. I’d already ruled out buying more supermarket own brand labels. They tend to be chill filtered with added caramel & whilst perfectly fine – they lack finesse.
But spotting these miniatures in my local Lidl.
I couldn’t pass them by.
Nosing the Speyside first – I choose to do Speyside – Highland – Islay starting from mildest to strongest flavours as recommended by many tasting journals – revealed a pleasant easy honeyed malt.
On a blind tasting this would sit well with any big label brand.
The palate was a bit watery & insignificant to begin with – common to all three malts – before a typical Speyside softly sweet & gentle flavour profile presented itself.
There was even a slight dry spice on the short finish.
Not bad at all.
The Highland gave a bit more malt biscuity depth to the proceedings.
The Islay – which was my favourite – offered a straight forward satisfying smoky hit.
Each gave a perfectly decent snapshot of the regional styles – perhaps lacking in depth & complexity – but nonetheless an extremely enjoyable way of discerning your palates preferences.
Nice one Lidl!
Slàinte
Which would you choose?
A single malt from a well known Islay Distillery versus a blend sold by an upcoming Lowland Distillery sourced from unnamed origins?
Luckily for me – I had both!
Art Of The Blend 3 was a limited edition release allowing Eden Mill Distillery to practice their blending & marketing skills in advance of their own whisky maturing.
It came in a highly attractive bottle – which has since continued into their own releases – containing malt & grain whiskies finished in Islay Whisky Casks.
I found it crisp, clear, vibrant and highly enjoyable.
You could say it was smokin’!
By contrast Bowmore No 1 – named after the warehouse the barrels used in the single malt were aged in – was muted – almost as if the fire had gone out.
The sparkle was missing – and I was a tad disappointed.
The Art Of The Blend 3 just blew it out of the water.
I let my palate choose.
It chose Art Of The Blend 3.
Sláinte
Islay experiences a lot of storms.
Situated off the West Coast of Scotland the island bears the full brunt of wild Atlantic weather fronts coming in on the prevailing winds.
Venturing out into the calm after one of these tempests can be a refreshing experience. Almost as if all the detritus has been washed away leaving a clear & invigorating air.
There is another side however.
The storms whip up the seaweed – or tangle – into big rotting piles heaped up on the shore front.
They don’t smell good.
That’s the only way I can describe my tasting experience of Islay Storm Whisky.
I picked it up at an auction and I can only assume it hadn’t been stored properly.
It tasted stale, dull & flat – even sour – much like that minging seaweed on the shore – or the farmer’s welly socks after collecting the seaweed for the fields.
The only element to rise above the morass was a clear hit of smoky peat.
A washed out bottle.
Sláinte.
My thanks to Whisky Lady for reminding me of this tasting experience.
As part of their Father’s Day promotions Aldi have brought to the Irish market the award winning Glen Marnoch range of Single Malt Scotch Whisky.
I’ve tried the Islay expression before here. The peat just managed to break through the caramelly sludge to make it a worthwhile bargain purchase – and the Highland bottle interested me next – but all that was on the shelves of my local Athlone store happened to be the Speyside Single Malt.
Now Speyside whiskies are among the biggest selling single malts in the world. They have universal appeal. They are approachable easy drinking & relatively mild. That equates to a lack of any bold flavours in my book and I wouldn’t be a fan.
With that caveat in mind – what did I find?
Caramel. Lots of it. The dominant note I got reminded me of a corn based blend – yet this is a 100% barley malt. Added caramel – or e150 if you like – is often made with dehydrated corn – so maybe that’s what I’m picking up.
It certainly is soft & approachable – no rough edges here – with a smidgen of fruity notes appearing towards the end. A pleasing warm burn gently caresses the palate on the finish.
For the price – added caramel & chill filtration are the norm – the name of the distillery is also not stated either – you get what you pay for.
Having said that – over in rivals Lidl – the Dundalgan Charred Cask Irish Whiskey sells for the same price.
It’s also soft & approachable. It has a far more warming – even inviting – bourbon vanilla & caramel nose – and packs more flavour too. All this from a blend.
For a fiver more you get the Dundalgan 10 Year Old Single Malt Irish Whiskey.
Compared to the Speyside this is in a different league.
It’s cleaner, crisper, packs more flavour, more fruit & has a far more balanced appeal about it altogether.
Even in the bargain basement range there are enjoyable drinking experiences.
Not something I can say about the Glen Marnoch Speyside.
Slàinte.
Day 2 of our Irish Whiskey Distilleries Tour dawned rather dull & grey as we continued our journey North to Bushmills Distillery.
Proclaiming to be the world’s oldest distillery with a license to distill from 1608 – living in Westmeath I know Kilbeggan Distillery is actually the oldest working distillery with a continuous license housed in the same building from 1757. The Bushmills Distillery we took the tour in today wasn’t built until 1784.
Regardless of the history, Bushmills is currently owned by Jose Cuervo and the distillery produces an excellent array of age statement single malts along with some pleasing blends. The highlight of hour long tour – which went through the history, manufacturing & maturing process as well as the all important tasting at the end – was undoubtedly entering the extremely hot working still room crammed tight with the stills full of soon to be fresh distillate! Demand is so great there are plans to double the capacity by building a new stillroom on the expansive site.
As this was the first distillery we visited that had their shop open a bottle of the 12 Year Old Distillery Reserve made it into the bag. A pleasant mainly sherry cask matured triple distilled malt presented at 40%
Oddly enough Bushmills malt is not peated unlike it’s nearest working distillery – Laphroaig on Islay – which is only a short sea crossing of 30 miles away or so. On a good day you can see the hills of Scotland from the nearby Giant’s Causeway coast. There is a new ferry service taking you on the short crossing if you wish called High Sea Spirits – now that would be an adventure!
As our car isn’t amphibious we took the road instead to Derry where Niche Drinks are building their Quiet Man Distillery in the former military barracks of Ebrington Square. We were kindly met by Ciaran Mulgrew – the managing director of Niche Drinks – who proudly showed us round the building site explaining how a modern & stylish distillery with an attractive visitors centre could be built within the old listed building and yet still retain it’s history & integrity. He also told some wonderful stories of how cross party alliances which straddled the former divided city came together to get the project off the ground. Very impressive.
What is also impressive is the award winning bar & restaurant that is Walled City Brewery handily adjacent to the distillery. Happily we had booked a tasty meal here & despite stocking Quiet Man whiskey – the allure of some tasty craft beer proved too much for some! Wonderful.
The sun came out as we made our way down to Sliabh Liag Distillery. Situated just inland from the impressive sea cliffs that it takes it’s name from. The actual distillery site hasn’t yet even started – but we were enthusiastically shown round by the highly informative & engaging founder James Doherty.
He comes with a wealth of experience from his years in the drinks industry & his stories of that career mirrored the seanachai traditions of Donegal – so we repaired to the local John The Miners Bar in Carrick where a glass of the Silkie blend awaited us. This sourced whiskey’s name recalls old stories of seals taking on human forms when ashore to befriend lonely menfolk – it certainly befriended us with it’s soft yet slightly spicy notes.
We could have stayed for longer – but a long drive through the stunning coastal scenery to our hotel for the night in Sligo beckoned.
A nightcap in Thomas Connolly’s Bar rounded off our extremely entertaining day covering the whiskey distilleries across the top of Ireland.
Dram of the day?
There wasn’t one to top the stories we heard from our day on the road & in the bar that evening!
Sláinte.
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