Cooley Tasting: Whiskeys from the most awarded Irish distillery

This past Wednesday, March, 7th, we had another great twasting (twitter tasting) night with Steve Rush, from The Whisky Wire, and Noel Sweeney, who works as master distiller in Cooley distilleries.

The tasting proposal was Kilbeggan, Tyrconnell Single Malt, Greenore 8 years old and Connemara Single Malt Peated Irish Whiskey.

I have tasted them on the past, but it was a nice chance to have then a new look and see how this young distillery is progressing, now under the hand of Jim Beam.

If you are new to Irish whiskey, know before hand that they craft whiskies in a different way of Scotch and that the aroma profile is different, more dry and floral usually.

Cooley has been a new player in the big Irish whiskey monopoly as Irish Distillers has been controlling all the existing distilleries in Ireland until 1980s. Established in 1987 to restore ancient brands of once best-selling Irish whiskeys. Right now there are three big players in the Irish whiskey arena:

• Jameson
• Bushmills
• Cooley

And Cooley has been making great marks on most international competitions.

Cooley tasting

Kilbeggan

We started with Kilbeggan, a blended irish whiskey, after some initial confusion about starting with Greenore 8 years old.
My previous date with this Kilbeggan wasn’t exactly nice: light whisky, floral and dry. Well, I have to say that although Kilbeggan isn’t yet my kind of whisky it is a big improvement over the one that I tasted two years ago.

“Nice light irish whiskey with lots of floral notes.”

82

Kilbeggan Irish Whiskey first appeared as a John Locke's brand over 100 years ago and was sold successfully until Locke's distillery ceased production in the 1950's.

Locke's distillery is the oldest continuously licensed whiskey distillery in the world dating back to 1757.

This whiskey is now distilled by Cooley who recently released a version of this whiskey distilled at the Kilbeggan distillery.

This dram has a gold-like color.

Nose (79): average. honey, vanilla, floral, mint, toffee.

Palate (85): light, smooth. honey, malt, wood, pears, spices, floral.

Finish (83): average. peat, floral, honey, spices.

So based on other whiskies I have already tasted I rate this Kilbeggan with 82 points over 100.

Buy this bottle at

Save money when you buy Irish Whiskey online. Check for the best prices from best online shops below:

• Buy on The Drink Shop for £20.51
• Buy on Master of Malt for £27.86

Tyrconnell Single Malt

Tyrconnell is named after a race horse that won a race with odds 100:1 and it is a single malt Irish whiskey. Last time I tasted it, I was greatly impressed, a very nice single malt. This new version seems somewhat younger with a strong Cooley fingerprint: floral notes and spices. It is a good whisky but not as good as I remember.

“The nose is very promising, but taste is quite dry and herbal. Nice, but not my kind of whiskey.”

84

The Tyrconnell Single Malt Irish whiskey is characterised by its elegant and balanced taste profile.

It retains the smooth, sweet taste normally associated with Irish whiskey but with its own distinctive character. The result is Tyrconnell's beautiful fresh, malty, fruity bouquet, smooth sweet taste and delicate dry finish.

One of the most celebrated Irish whiskeys ever produced winning a gold medal at the Great Taste Awards in 2009 , gold medal & best in class at the IWSC 2009.

This dram has a gold-like color.

Nose (84): more than average. honey, vanilla, fruits, raisins, biscuits, cinnamon.

Palate (85): light, smooth. honey, floral, herbal, green pears, spices.

Finish (83): longer than average. floral, wood, honey.

So based on other whiskies I have already tasted I rate this Tyrconnell Irish Whiskey with 84 points over 100.

Buy this bottle at

Save money when you buy Irish Whiskey online. Check for the best prices from best online shops below:

• Buy on The Drink Shop for £30.60
• Buy on Master of Malt for £32.33
• Buy on The Whisky Exchange for £32.45

Greenore 8 years old

If Bourbon and Irish whiskey ever marry their daughter would be like this! I like a lot this whiskey, unique in its category: single grain irish whiskey.
It is a very nice grain whisky, but after rating George T Stagg or some of The Clan Danny jewels I have a different, better, point of view. Nonetheless I enjoy this one.

“Tropical fruits infused bourbon with a citrosy touch. Looks like ten years old bottled at around 45%. Interesting whisky”

86

Greenore Single Grain is a truly unique whiskey as it is the only expression of Irish Single Grain whiskey in the world.

Single Grain whiskeys are very rare as most grain whiskey is normally mixed with Malt whiskeys to make Blended whiskey. Grain whiskey is made from maize/corn and provides a lot of the smoothness people associate with Irish whiskey.

Think of this whiskey as the nose of a bourbon and the taste of irish whiskey. Right! Just delicious.

This dram has a fino-like color.

Nose (86): more than average. citrus, honey, pepper, floral, fruity, papaya.

Palate (87): light, smooth. honey, citrus, wood, pepper, spices, mango, papaya, vanilla, corn.

Finish (85): longer than average. honey, wood, spices, corn.

So based on other whiskies I have already tasted I rate this Greenore 8 year with 86 points over 100.

Connemara

Finally we had the only peated irish whiskey, Connemara. We tasted the NAS expression that, without being in the level of Islay monsters, is a rather interested peated whisky with notes of herbs and banana. Only for peat-heads.

“Very nice irish whiskey, soft fruity peat at its highest splendor”

87

Connemara produce a peated Irish single malt, named for the area in Ireland.

Distilled at Cooley distillery in Cork, Ireland. The last of the independent irish distilleries before it was bought by Beam Global.

Connemara is a peated whisky, not in the style of Islay peat monsters but more like the Japanese Hakushu. Smoky and slightly peated with an awesome amount of fruits. It won't disappoint you.

This dram has a gold-like color.

Nose (86): more than average. peat, fruits, floral, citrus, bananas. Peated but overall this irish whiskey smells very fruity.

Palate (87): powerful. peat, spices, coffee, fruity, banana. Lightly spiced peat.

Finish (87): longer than average. peat, honey, wood .

So based on other whiskies I have already tasted I rate this Connemara with 87 points over 100.

Buy this bottle at

Save money when you buy Irish Whiskey online. Check for the best prices from best online shops below:

• Buy on Master of Malt for £34.00
• Buy on The Drink Shop for £35.20

Read more
Irish Whiskey
Cooley Tweet Tasting at The Whisky Wire
Cooley Tweet Tasting at Whisky Israel

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