Review #11: Glendalough Single Malt Irish Whiskey Aged 7 Years

I've really enjoyed this bottle over the last eight or nine months. It was a gift from my Mom when she visited earlier this year - the first of two visits and the first of two lovely bottles of Irish whiskey that she brought me over - thanks Mom. This was the one that partially prompted me to start me writing these blogs. There was very little information available online and only one review I could find at the time so I thought maybe I should put up my own review. I believe from the research online that I found out that this was a Cooley malt and Glendalough are acting as an independent bottler of whiskey while they wait for their own stuff to mature.

Price: This was a gift but I think I have a fair idea that it was reasonably priced at around Aussie $50 or $60 max although you'd probably pay more for it in Australia if it were available here in the shops: 5/6

Appearance: Looks natural to me, a yellow golden color with a greenish tinge: 6/6

Availability: Sadly this is not available here where I am. If you are reading this may I suggest you go out and buy a bottle if you can. This is not likely to be in the duty free outside of Ireland. I have seen some of their other products available over here but at very highly marked up prices in my opinion: 3/6

Marketing: there is a lovely story about saint Kevin - how could I not like that. There's a video up too which shows a little historic fiction and tells of the legend of St Kevin and nicely weaves in their product list. See the link to the Glendalough website below. They give some tasting notes on the whiskey too and a little detail which is on the label anyway: 6/6
http://www.glendaloughdistillery.com/

Packaging and Label: the bottle is nicely shaped, clear glass with a lovely green label or three on it. The label tells me that the whiskey is 7 year old Irish single malt that is non chill filtered and bottled at 46% - very good. It gives me some tasting notes and a little of the legend of St Kevin himself and some other nonsense about the local water and weather: 5/6

Nose: vanilla, banana, fruits of the forest, maybe some rhubarb, something very dry that I can't quite put my finger on, it's spicey - cinnamon maybe or a little mixed spice it really reminds me of rhubarb crumble also there's a little malty cereal note in the background too. This is a lovely complex nose typical of Cooley Malts in my limited experience. 18/20

Taste on entry: It's not blowing me away! It's mild enough some citrus and a little spice and sweetness - vanilla and maybe a little sherbet (Dibbadab): 15/20

Mouthfeel/ Body: I like it, there's a little heat but I feel this suites the nose, it coats the mouth nicely - velvety. No chill filtering apparently helps make a whiskey feel better in the mouth which makes sense considering chill filtration removes natural oils and fats: 8/10

Finish: I like how this whiskey finishes. There's a fair whack of spice (peppery) and it's nice and long and leaves my mouth watering in expectation of more. I'm getting something vegetal and bitter with the sweetness and some rhubarb crumble in there too or possibly stewed rhubarb: 16/20


Total Score: 82/100


I really liked this one, very tasty stuff. I'm looking forward to trying some of their own stuff in the next few years although I might pick up a bottle of their aged Poitin at some point in the not too distant future.

Cheers,
Kev.