Glendalough Pot Still

Be forewarned. This is more a rueful rant than a review. Glendalough is my local distillery and I drive past it daily. They are operational for about 10 years and produce a lot of well regarded gin, as many young distilleries do. For their initial whiskey releases they purchased Cooley stock and sold it under their own brand. Again, par for the course with young Irish distilleries. Some of them are excellent like the 17yo mizunara finish single malt. But they hadn’t yet produced their own whiskey. I fancied owning something produced in my area, so I decided to wait. This is a 4yo whiskey, and they released it with fanfare in 2019 as their first pot still whiskey. It came out around the same time as Teeling and Drumshanbo were doing likewise. Great, I thought. They used oak from a local forest for the final year of virgin oak maturation. Even better, I thought. It’d be warming to have an inaugural release so firmly rooted in the area I now call home: a fresh, first still-run from the distIllery down the road; a lovingly barrelled and carefully watched-over piece of Wicklow; nectar from the “Garden of Ireland“. Filled with romantic notions and local pride I bought a bottle. I later learned that this first release of Glendalough pot still was not their own distillate. It annoys me that I went ‘all in’ on an alluring fantasy. Poor research on my part, and I guess a lack of transparency on theirs. Even the official blurb here in Distiller describes it as “the distillery’s first pot still whiskey“. It was their first pot still whiskey release, but not THEIR first pot still whiskey. The provenance of the whiskey doesn’t alter the taste, I know that, and this is still a solid whiskey (I particularly like the virgin oak finish). But something leaves a bitter taste…

Caramel covered pineapple wrapped in oak?

Too much wood influence for my taste.

Love it. Very citrusy and honeyed with some spice notes, a big departure from regular Irish whiskey. Still great, awesome finish and despite simplicity it is very well crafted. This one grows on you, as you adjust to how agressive the first few sips can be.

Good and smooth

This being their first attempt at pot still I wouldn’t try again. This bottle is just not very good.