Jameson Caskmates Stout Edition

Nose is a bit of typical Irish buttered bread but with a sour note. Palate is...well stout beer after taste with some creamy sweetness. The beer comes out even more in the finish. If you like typical Irish and stout beer you will enjoy this one.

50 ml sample bottle; honey-colored. The aroma is a dark, burnt cookie bottom. The stout malts manifest themselves as a alternately dry and oily: there is some nutty, toffee nose, and some charcoal; but it also contains an imperial stout richness, that have an oily plum, cherry and raisin. The oiliness has a fusel, gasoline component that is not subtle. It's an off-aroma, like paint-thinner or a black magic marker. The first taste is deep molasses: it's sweet like a buttery toffee cookie, and that burnt cookie malt adds a bitter balance. That said, the brown sugar is dominant, and it just tastes a little processed. The sugars are pungently sweet like a creme brulee. It would pair beautifully with a darker dessert, actually, because the sweetness dominates. The finish is more of that bitter cookie bottom: dark and chalky, but then there is some plum and date, then an ashy tobacco end. I like the idea of this whiskey: the barrel's effects are very noticeable. But that said, I'm not sure it's entirely successful. It's neither fish nor fowl: it's not a satisfying stout experience, and it's not balanced enough to be a satisfying Irish whiskey. A pour is enough, a bottle, for me, is too much.