Glendalough Double Barrel Single Grain

Very good, and certainly great value for the money!

Dry, fig with almond. Sweetens with a touch of water.

Vanilla, toasted almonds, and dried fruit. Very short finish. Slight burn when neat, but almost none with an ice cube.

N: The barrels rule the day here: just about equal parts oaky bourbon and silky red fruit, favoring the oak just slightly. The two are married here. I find it really tough to separate the two profiles. So you end up with a woodsy cherry, orchard fruit that's still in the orchard, little bit of black AND red licorice (never gotten that before). It's all interesting and fun, but doesn't have a lot of depth (which is fine, considering the price). P: Smooth and rich. Leans even more toward bourbon on the palate than the nose. Quick hit of caramel, vanilla, cherry, before the anise/black licorice drops in and lingers. Caramel comes back atop a bread pudding profile. Finish is sweet with lots of red fruit, dash of cayenne pepper, and a lingering chocolate powder. This is tasty, cheap, unique, interesting. It is not complicated, so it can't really compete with drams higher up the price scale. But the craft is on display - the distillery has clearly put thought and effort into making something that approaches an Irish twist on a traditional bourbon, and affordable at that. The end result is better than a cheap bourbon or a cheap Irish whiskey, but not better than the upper-middle range of either. Not even close, really. But it's not trying for that. It's just an interesting outlier. I'm good with that. Might even pick it up again because I can't really think of anything else quite like it, especially at the price. Long story short: this is far from amazing, but unique, interesting, and super easy to enjoy at the same time. Perfect for a sub $25 bottle.

Typically irish, a bit flat on taste, small kicker of alcohol in the after taste.