Whisky NOTES:
Kate snagged me an Irish single malt the other day, Knappogue Castle.
I have to admit, its such a different class of single malt from my usual Scotches that I didn’t know what to make of it after my initial tasting — my familiar benchmarks really don’t apply to this, and I’m going to have to get a couple more Irish single malts under my belt before I feel like I have a good index of comparison — I’ve been drinking Irish whiskeys forever, but generally, what’s been available here have been blends and a few notable standards. The only other Irish single malt I’ve come across is the Tyrconnell – and while I liked it fine, it reminded me of a coppery Blackbush as much as anything.
Now, the Knappogue Castle is another animal entirely. On the nose, this is coming across as very woody, in a light and bright-but not-sharp way. It’s a direct and comfortable and not complicated – like eye contact with a old friend. There are some notes that remind me of soda biscuits and a bit of a black-pepper tingle to it, but it’s all well under the woodiness. The more I think about it, it has a character that somehow reminds me of the smell of just-ripped boards after the saw blade gets hot, with an underlying sweetness.
On the tongue, there’s a tannic brightness right up front, followed immediately by a very noticeable wood flavor — and it’s clearly a very bright oakiness dominating. It goes down cool and astringent, with a little late warmth, and the aftertaste is a bit coppery, malty-sweet and slightly wintergreen.
It’s a much cleaner, defined and simpler suite of flavors than a lot of what I’ve been drinking for a while.
The bottle describes it as having a “mildly spicy, citrus taste” but after two tastings a couple or days apart, I’m not getting the citrus at all – this bottle is, to me, defined by it’s woodiness.
Tagging a some folks who commented on previous tasting notes:
Ian Smith, Craig Storm Jamie Fessenden, Mari Morgan, Lisa Downie, Lance Cleveland, Dave Fortin, Jenn Howard via Facebook
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