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This year’s liquid missive from head distiller Brian Nation has a nose of caramel, macaroons, and beeswax with green, grassy notes. The first sip evokes barley sugar, which grows into a citrus glow, nourished by some green oak and a little white pepper. It has lovely poise this year, effortlessly lighter on the tongue than the 2015 or 2014 creations. The conclusion is slightly nutty with soothing oak.
Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Spring 2017)
A delicious nose of heather honey, baked peach, dried apricot, fresh oak, and clotted cream on warm scones, with a twist of black pepper and ground ginger. The way the fruitiness breaks through the wall of ginger and pepper, enabling the baked peach, apple, sweet honey, and toffee to assert themselves is rather wonderful. Waves of sweetness and vanilla break over stone fruit, leaving a roasted coffee finish.
Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Spring 2022)
From this first-fill bourbon cask emerge light, delicate, aromatic fruits: think white peach, poached pear, and lychee with creamed coconut, nutmeg-spiced latte, Simnel cake, Chinese five-spice, and richer apple notes. A seemingly chaste dram that begins with honey, egg-washed brioche, stewed pears, and slender pink rhubarb before innocence is lost as sweet bursts of fruit explode, while dark vanilla, clove, rum and raisin, chocolate, and rye divert the action. Dried apple with Christmas spices marks the finish. (186 bottles, The Whisky Exchange only) £245
Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Summer 2016)
This one is all about the wood spices and oak up front, backed by runny caramel, banana split, lime zest, and cooking apple spices. The Irish oak spices run riotously, with flavors of vanilla, toffee, baked apple, and nougat settling down reluctantly once cosseted by the indulgent taste of banoffee pie and milk chocolate. More a lovable rogue than an outright troublemaker.
Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Spring 2022)
Cranberry, watermelon, and cherry, with deeper notes of raisin and prune, are lanced by piercing spices. There’s a thick and heavy mouthfeel that begins with caramel and vanilla, sliding into chewy toffee with coffee notes and a hint of raspberry, though harried by peppery spices so sharp they taste spiky.
Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Summer 2020)
A nose of oak, lemon meringue pie, lashings of vanilla, pink peppercorns, and paprika. It’s particularly mouth-drawing at cask strength, offering vanilla, toffee, a slight nuttiness, and banana, with a clove spiciness that really takes hold. It keeps surging forward, finding different ways for the spices to peak before settling on a vanilla finish.
Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Summer 2020)
Heavy on the oak and spices, this has aromas of a carpentry shop, with salt and pepper, steak rub, and a touch of red fruit buried deep in the glass. It has quite a mouthfeel at cask strength; one of those whiskeys that makes your teeth squeaky. Vanilla, banana, and nicely balanced between the slowly unraveling spices, hazelnut, and oakiness.
Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Summer 2020)
An attractive nose of vanilla, fresh oak, butterscotch, lemon balm, bread crust, caramel, coconut, and dried banana places this example in the middle ground. Smooth on the taste buds with a continuity of flavors from sniff to swallow, there is honey, butterscotch, orange peel, soft oak, peppery spice, and stone fruits; it brings in vanilla and caramel and ends with notes of oak, spice, and dried fruit.
Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Spring 2022)
An agreeable combination of crystalized honey, melon, and conference pear develops, with vanilla sponge cake, beeswax candles, cream soda, and light baking spices. The balance and contrast work well, highlighting gentle honeyed fruits, a strong vanilla flavor, dried fruits, and a surge in peppery spice. The latter phase comes close to Tree 2 in this release, with soothing mocha notes.
Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Spring 2022)
Virgin Irish oak-finished Midleton single pot still whiskeys aged from 15 to 22 years take pot still into exciting new territory. The native pot still spiciness is enveloped by chocolate-covered honeycomb, toasty oak, spotty bananas, and a barista’s coffee scoop, though a dash of water picks out lemongrass and rubbed mint. A silky smooth mouthfeel of succulent fruits is shaken down with cocoa powder. Black currant squares up as heavy pot incarnate. Clove-spiked stewed apple weighs into a lengthy finish.
Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Summer 2015)
This has more vanilla and caramel, with less aggressive wood spices than Tree 1, and aromas of clove, sharpened pencils, and dried morel mushrooms. It’s fruity and mouth-drawing, yet less weighty than Tree 1, reminiscent of fruit Life Savers and baked apple, and when it peaks it breaks with more alcohol than spice.
Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Summer 2020)
Sweet toffee, whole lemon, rose-scented air freshener, black pepper, charred oak, crème anglaise, green apple, and a hint of spearmint. The palate is sweet too, showcasing an array of barley notes, caramel, cinnamon, and chocolate, developing more malty characteristics that draw in cocoa and notes of peppermint. The finish is gentle with cocoa with a soft oakiness.
Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Spring 2022)
Steel yourself for a spicy encounter of cinnamon, cardamom, and seasoned oak spices, combining effortlessly with notes of walnut, vanilla, tropical fruits, blossom honey, and water biscuit. The flavors approach the cask-strength spicy summit with toffee, dried fruit, and apricot, followed by green melon, malted barley, and chocolate on the other side. Perfectly decent, but it occupies more familiar virgin oak territory than its contemporaries.
Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Spring 2022)
Master distiller Brian Nation is really getting into his stride now. This vintage has creamed coconut, Jersey milk, vanilla desserts, crystallized jellies, fresh orange peel, and dry spices. To drink it is to celebrate American oak; creamy, golden, polished, with peach, honey, sherbet, sugars, butter frosting, sponge cupcakes, almond biscuits, and Quaker oatmeal squares. Spices are reactivated at the swallow. You have a whole year to enjoy this until the next one arrives. Really, there’s no excuse.
Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Winter 2015)
Floral with a perfumed bouquet, the nose picks out creamy rice pudding, ground ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, fresh oak, caramel, and cotton candy. With a focus on fruity sweetness, vanilla fudge, and green apple notes, this peaks with clove-led spices and Red Vines, showing its high strength. As the sweetness wanes, it ends with red apple and vanilla on a short dry finish.
Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Spring 2022)
Named for the distillery of the same name, and where many other well-know Irish blends are produced (including Jameson, Powers, Paddy, and Tullamore Dew). This is the distillery’s ultra-premium blend offering. The whiskey is somewhat shy and bashful in personality (when compared to its pure pot still siblings like Redbreast and the quite rare Jameson 15 year old) and really takes some patience to appreciate its subtle beauty. Sweet notes of honeyed malt and vanilla up front, with a hint of marshmallow and summer fruits. The palate eventually dries out nicely and deepens, evolving into a medley of subtle spice. Very drinkable.
Reviewed by: John Hansell (Fall 2005)
