AN FEAR CIUIN
(the quiet man)
I, as always the consummate amateur, have now found two Irish single malts that although being far from the the single maltedness of the Scotch single malts (if you will forgive my fooling around with such statements) are undeniably part of the family of 'Single Malt' and yet with a distinct difference from such malts as Bushmills (Irish) or Laphroaig (Scottish) and in-spite of their lack of peatyness have captured my heart as surely as my two loving grand-daughters that are grand daughters in marriage only, have captured mine. I have to give The Quiet Man a big '85' in pure enjoyment of tasting a malt with complexity, with flavour, with smoothness, with 'MORE', and it is new with no back ground or history, the price is right (if you are familiar with single malt prices that is), and I personally am going to lay in a few bottles against the undeniable rising prices to come. Let me quote momentarily from those people that can distinguish the flavours of sour pickle in vanilla ice cream (just kidding - they probably do have such discernment - occasionally).
Onto my notes:
Nose
- Unmistakably Cooley. Very smooth and very much like Greenore
Single Grain. Fresh fruits, banana, lemon, dusty light orange and
apple are all present. Smooth, soft oak vanilla and light
cereals. The malt is not big and beefy but soft and easily
approachable. With time the tropical notes, with which I've
associated Cooley for some time, appear in the form of pineapple and
coconut milk.
Palate
- Malty arrival that's accompanied by a big peppery, chilli kick.
Thankfully the heat doesn't overpower the spirit and without water the
citrus just shows through with dry oak and some more vanilla. With
water the orange comes out on top with clove spice and more creamy oak.
Finish - Medium length with dry spices and fresh fruit with cream.
Overall
this is a very enjoyable dram with it's roots firmly in Cooley.
If you are a fan, like myself, of the Greenore whiskeys then this
will not disappoint. Bags of flavour on the nose and good strength
on the palate. If I had any criticism then I would rather have
seen this with a few more years under it's belt, maybe 10 would be
perfect. The 8 year old packs a good punch but the chilli heat is
only just restrained. A couple more years would smooth this out to
perfection.
All
that said this is a fantastic start for "The Quiet Man". I've
mentioned before that it is absolutely imperative to hit the ground
running in this business, and that means on all fronts: quality of
spirit, style & presentation, price point etc etc, and I have to say
I think Niche Drinks have done a very good job indeed.
Where
I've seen this stocked it is at a very agreeable price and the bottles
certainly look good sitting beside their Irish counterparts. As
word of "The Quiet Man" spreads I can see it gaining a very decent
reputation that will give the perfect base to push on from once their
own distillery is up and running and eventually their own spirit is in
their bottles.
Many thanks to Ciaran Mulgrew, of Niche Drinks, for the sample bottle.
Until next time,
Sláinte
