Tyrconnell Archives - Whisky a Day

Whisky #472: Tyrconnell Sherry Cask 10 Year Old Single Malt Irish Whiskey

May 10, 2017 by Whisky a Day Leave a Comment

Tyrconnell Sherry Cask 10 Year Old Single Malt Irish Whiskey. Riverstown, Dundalk, Ireland. ABV: 46%. Tasted at The Wild Rover, $21. Or in this case, $42 for a double!

Colour: Deep candlelit amber.

Nose: Buttery caramel notes. Blackberry jam.

Palate: Salted caramel and raspberry flavours swirl on your tongue. Caramelised rendered fat from a wagyu steak. Thin on the palate, but it takes the mind to more hearty places.

Finish: Dry and oaky, sweet red berries yet almost a bit salty and tannic.

Comments: It’s like a packet of fruit pastilles, but mainly the juicy red raspberry and blackberry ones. None of those dodgy lemon or orange ones, don’t waste my time with those fillers! You get a salty sweet hit, a few mixed berry notes and you’re left wanting to bite into some more.

In an ideal world, I would prefer to try this at cask strength – it’s very tasty, but I reckon it could have been so much more if it was bottled higher than 46%ABV. Though a 46%ABV whisky really seems to be a good balance in terms of appealing to as broad a segment of the market as possible. Excise considerations will always play a part in a distillery’s decision on what ABV a whisky will be bottled at. But putting that aside, for flavour reasons alone I believe it’s a very good whisky, but would have been amazing at a higher ABV.

Whisky #389: Tyrconnell Madeira Cask 10 Year Old Single Malt Irish Whiskey

December 30, 2015 by Whisky a Day Leave a Comment

Tyrconnell Madeira Cask 10 Year Old Single Malt Irish Whiskey. Riverstown, Dundalk, Ireland. ABV: 46.0%. Tasted at The Wild Rover, $20.

Colour: Caramelised popcorn.

Nose: Exceedingly smooth, light and fruity. Strawberries and cream, rosewater, and soft candied oranges. Some very subtle aromas here, it’s not a powerful punch at all.

Palate: Very subtle dried fruits on the mid palate that quickly fade. Tangy raspberry hints dance on the taste buds. Sweet woody notes, with a great balance between saltiness and sweetness.

Finish: Quite drying and woody. Very smooth as it glides down.

Comments: My colleagues Candice and Johad a taste, both are non-whisky drinkers who found it surprisingly easy enough to drink neat. For me there’s plenty of interesting flavours and aromas to keep me interested too, so it seems to have struck a good balance of pleasing a variety of palates.

It reminds me more like a red wine finished whisky such as some of the Longrow wine cask finished malts, the Longrow Burgundy Wood or Longrow Red Cabernet Sauvignon (but without the peatiness). Which is a little unusual as they’re Scottish malts, but hey I’m not geographically snobbish when it comes to whisk(e)y…I’ll drink it from anywhere!

Whisky #13: Tyrconnell Single Malt Irish Whiskey

February 19, 2014 by Whisky a Day Leave a Comment

Tyrconnell Single Malt Irish Whiskey. Riverstown, Dundalk, Ireland. ABV: 40.00%. Tasted at Bobeche, $12.

Colour: Bright gold. At least I can see the damn colour this time, unlike the Bunnahabhain 12 Year Old I attempted to taste yesterday at 3am in a dimly lit bar.

Nose: Malty, hints of hay.

Palate: Smooth entry. Earthy, malty flavours with a bit of spice.

Finish: Quite a short & peppery after taste, a very dry finish.

Comments: I haven’t tried too many Irish whiskies before, certainly never an Irish single malt, so wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Interesting to try, quite ok to drink, but not sure there’s enough flavour to get me excited enough to go out and buy another round (or bottle). If you like dry peppery flavours, go ahead…or just go nuts with the pepper grinder on your meal instead.

Only the second time I’ve been to Bobeche, but upon ordering I was asked if I’m “that whisky guy” as they’d been speaking to someone from Sentinel about the guy who is doing the tasting of 365 whiskies in a year. I seem to be getting a name for myself already!