Kavanagh Irish Cream

An elegant, cordial from Ireland that has an aromatic birth with notes of cream & Irish Whiskey; while a fresh life adds notes of malt, chocolate & caramel; that leads to a delicate & creamy death. February / October 2016 / June / November 2019 / October 2024

Smooth sweet creaminess

Light, cream taste.

Rating: 13/23 This might be a hair darker than Bailey's, but not by much. N: It's richer and maltier than I had expected. I get both whiskey and cream out of it, along with a nice sweetness, sort of like a malted milk ball with a dash of milk chocolate ice cream. There's some vanilla and cereal and it's a bit of floral nose, but not too much. It's less harsh, but also less floral and milky than my bottle of Bailey's that's been open for something like 2 years. I think that this mainly means that my Bailey's is holding up. I kind of like the freshness of the Bailey's nose, but I appreciate the maltiness here. It's a step up from Sheelin's surprisingly. Sheelin's White Chocolate liqueur is actually pretty good, but it's whiskey cream was a bit disappointing. P: I get the creamy malt mixed nicely with some cereal and floral flavor. It has a bit of coconut milk flavor to it, which I would have thought would be unappealing, but actually works here. The whiskey springs from the floral notes. It's fairly tasty in a hedonistic way and is never harsh. Bailey's is more floral and fresh with kind of a buttery note that is more mild than but replaces the coconut in this. The spirit in this tastes like it might be a bit lighter than in Bailey's but the rich creaminess covers it well. I get some grain harshness coming through and a bit of bitter alcohol that reminds me of cheap Irish whiskey, but not too much. This is still fairly enjoyable. F: The milk and coconut linger here along with some nice cereal, but also the bitter alcohol and grain harshness. There's kind of a nice whiskey richness on the Bailey's finish that disappointingly isn't present here. It isn't bad or necessarily inferior to the palate. This is an improvement on Sheelin's Irish Cream, surprisingly. Sheelin's White Chocolate is actually decent, whereas Kavanaugh whiskey is garbage. I like this a bit, actually. It's a bit tough to make the call between this and Bailey's because they're so different. I think that the coconut in this would upset many, but I kind of like it. I can imagine sipping this. Bailey's is more complex, but this is more hedonistic and still tasty. Considering how on the fence I am between the two, maybe I should upgrade to Kerrygold, since they make some very nice butter. I think that Bailey's beats this out by about a point, but this is still pretty good. I don't think I'd really want to sip it all that much, but I certainly could and I would not hesitate to mix it. I'm thinking like a 13 or maybe even 14. It could be a 12, but it probably isn't lower than that. I'll start with a 13.

-pretty good, smooth, sweet

A slight taste of caramel and chocolate