The Irishman Founder's Reserve

Lacks that straight up smoothness you’d expect with an Irish whiskey but still has a pleasant sweet fruity smoothness on the back. A nice oaky maybe flowery spice up front? Semi complex but almost missing something

Very zesty with a beautiful smooth finish but lacking in body

The Irishman Founder’s Reserve is a NAS blend of Single Malt (70%) and Pot Still (30%) whiskeys from Walsh Whiskey that is triple distilled and matured in Bourbon casks. Their Royal Oak distillery in County Carlow opened in 2016 and produces The Writers’ Tears range also. I took an interesting tour of the distillery last year - I was in a tour group of one, so I got some undivided attention from the knowledgeable guide. With their own means of production they plan to extend their range under both brands, and they hope to soon release the first whiskey distilled at their new facility. In the meantime this is produced to Walsh's recipe by Midleton distillery. This smells better than it tastes. The nose is light and fruity, with cereal and vanilla but a tad too much ethanol. The palate is lightly sweet, malt and honey - pleasant but far from remarkable. A few drops of water mutes the ethanol but I found that it is easily drowned. Calibrate carefully! In my opinion, it’s not as good as The Irishman 12 Year Single Malt, which is also aged in ex-bourbon casks, but better than the The Irishman Single Malt NAS that is aged in a mixture of ex-bourbon and ex-Oloroso sherry casks. But hey, my personal preferences tend to slightly lean away from the sweeter “winey’ finishes

Vanilla and wood nose, with a bit of tartness. Smooth palate, with hints of honey and a short finish.

Nose: Green Apple Taste: light fruit, apple, hint of honey