N: sweetness led by toasted cereals, a little vanilla, apple/cider and some grassy spirit. P: surprisingly full but the short-lived fudgey biscuit notes and fruity crisp juiciness get cut straight through by some ethanol burn. F: medium finish that is all about the burn, with an undercurrent of fairly uninspiring honey and creaminess. I wasn’t looking forward to coming back to update my notes on this. At 48.95 a bottle you really can’t have high expectations. I guess this is the Irish version of Johnnie Walker Red; mass produced and cheap to keep the generic masses happy. This has ended up, not in my cabinet, but in the kitchen pantry. My wife made a faux-baileys with it. I am mindful of not letting things go to waste. I was going to say that there is nothing inherently wrong with this whiskey. I was. But I’m not going to. There is a lot wrong. Mass production (11 million cases in 2020) has done no favours. Generic, lifeless, and insipid. The burn is prominent. The only redeeming quality in my mind is the nose, thats passable I suppose. High praise indeed. I also assume there would be consistency across the millions of cases. How hard is it to be consistently the bottom end of passable though? Do people actually drink this stuff neat, for enjoyment? If so why? I get good whisky is “the whisky you like to drink, the way you like to drink it” and all, but; seriously, why this? If anyone wants to chime in and reeducate me please do. I’m going to cut my rant short now. Distiller whisky taste #59