Stone Breaker

The best of both worlds in my humble opinion.

Vanilla from the barrel, caramel from the malt.

A pleasant surprise. Corn and maple, almost more like a bourbon, but a very nice blend.

Ok, but finish is a little strong.

This is good. It is a blend of imported Irish whiskey from the stocks of John Teeling and Michael Shannon's (Restless Spirits, Kansas City, MO) own Irish style whiskey. This noses of honey, ripe orchard fruit, vanilla, and a slight floral note, It is very soft in the mouth, almost oily. The flavors promised by the nose interplay well on the tongue and linger well on the finish. A slight burn is evident as you swallow-- after all, it is 92 proof. Add a few drops of water and the burn is gone--but, the flavor is much less intense, though really still quite nice and SMOOTH. Michael Shannon is proud of his Irish heritage and Stone Breaker is named to honor the hard work of those who came before him. Look carefully at the label on the bottle pictured here at distiller.com--enlarge it if you can. It is a copy of Michael Shannon's great, great, great, grandfather's immigration document in 1853. It is worth buying a bottle of this lovely dram just to see that. By the way, the bottle I am sampling from was purchased over two years ago and is batch 7, bottle 41. I had been reluctant to open this one because the Shannons had signed it for me. I am sure they would want me to enjoy it--I can still keep the bottle. FYI: Restless Spirits now offers their own single malt called Gullytown, young but very good. (Gullytown is an old nickname for Kansas City because many of the early arrivals lived in the gullies in the river bluffs, some even digging their homes in the bluffs.)