A quick note on Connemara whiskey.

A quick note on Connemara whiskey.

Irish whiskies hadn’t been peated for several hundred years before the fine folks at Cooleys distillery in Dundalk restarted the process back in the 80s. Until then the Irish whiskey had been more about the barley than the peat, preferring smoothness to smokiness and sweetness to the cured meat overtones of the Scottish counterpart.

Connemara peated Irish whiskey manages to combine the easy drinking and generally awesome experience of a fine Irish malt with the smokiness that would be signatory of an Islay malt. The results are phenomenal in each one of the expressions that they have released. The first peated Irish whiskies in 300 years come out swinging.
See the over enthusiastic and slightly drunken notes that follow.

Connemara Peated Irish Malt 1 ABV 40%
This is a lovely wee whiskey that starts off with a kind of hot buttered toast smell then goes into honey and hazelnuts and a kind of chocolaty overtone. You leave it for 40 seconds and go back for another sniff. The same aromas are still there but after that there is a massive surge of peat, unexpected at first but after the initial surprise you can see how well it fits in with the other more irish style characteristics. An initial taste yields orange peel and apricots and a smidgen of beach campfire. The finish hangs around for a long time with a light citrus ending followed by a cigar style contraction on the back of your tongue.
8/10 Gutsy but gentle whiskey. Amazing introduction to Irelands peaty side.

Connemara 12 year old ABV 40%
The 12 year old is a different beast to the regular Connemara. It starts out with a more genteel floral smell with a really pleasant pine resin whiff. It gets a bit like chewing mint leaves covered with nutella (in an incredibly nice way). The peat smoke is quite subtle. It tends towards pipe smoke rather than the campfire style of the regular Connemara.
The first thing you notice on the taste is the pipe smoke again. It comes in first shortly followed by bursts of honey, then smoke, then kippers, then melted butter. This stuff is liquid gold. The finish is more ashen than you would normally expect from an irish malt. Pleasantly nutty.
8.5/10 A peated malt that is smoother than oiled silk. Awesome.

Connemara Cask Strength ABV 60%
Jesus Fucking Christ. This is one for the record books. The incredible strength of this big hairy aggressive bastard of a malt is something to behold. The first sniff is an assault on the senses. Don’t sniff too deeply or you can anesthetise your nostrils with the alcohol (no, seriously). The brilliant crystal clear explosion of malt and smoke blend together like peaches and cream, in bursts and bursts of amazing sensory overload. The inital taste is understated and smooth. The first impressions are of brown sugar caramelised over freshly made porridge. Then the peat shows up. Smoke just keeps creeping in over and over again revealing another layer every time to this fantastically complex malt. The Irish signature smoothness keeps the peat in check (just about). This is something you should toast the arrival of your first child with. Or to celebrate someone’s wedding, Or world peace Or it being a Tuesday.
9.5/10 Smoother than Selma Hayeks inner thighs but stronger than Mr T and Chuck Norris on steroids. Buy it. Buy it now.