It's my birthday, my friends! And so in honor of me turning 19, just like this whiskey, I figured I'd pop this open. Just kidding. Approaching mid-40s here. Feeling that. And so I suppose you could say I opened it so I could feel less like that tonight and more like that tomorrow. Ah, Kilbeggan. I like their Small Batch Rye a lot, not a huge fan of their Single Pot Still. But I couldn't possibly pass this up: a 19-Year Single Grain that, because of the recent clearance sale, I copped for $44.99 instead of list price $89.99. Can you really beat something like that? Also my understanding is that this is a Pennsylvania exclusive. Or at least, that's what I read in the only site I found that reviewed this, WhiskyCast. So, a little preliminaries. It's been a lovely evening. I was vegetarian for about a decade but earlier this year went back to eating fish, so my wife took me out for sushi tonight. She also baked a chocolate brownie cake with Oreo cookie icing that used about 10 sticks of butter and half a small carton of heavy whipping cream, so my arteries might need a little break going forward, and now the kids are in bed, and I just cracked the Kilbeggan 19 and poured us both a dram (my wife loves Irish whiskey and bourbon). And the burning question (or maybe not so burning if you're not in PA and can't get your hands on it ) is, how is it? The nose is a delectable combination of apple, butterscotch and vanilla icing (although maybe that's the Oreo icing stuck in my beard). The apple aroma has a slight edge of fermented cider that pushes this into that realm that's a cut above the usual apple that can be found in Irish whiskey, a little bit more tart than ripe fresh apple. More like an apple desert. And the apple seems to alternate, every time I take a whiff with that strong vanilla cream with the butterscotch stealing in now and then. Overall just lovely on the nose. The palate is nice, though I'm not sure I like it quite as much as the nose. We'll have to see how it develops. It's dry and tannic and spicy. A little bit of pear with a very light honey presence. A slight ethanol edge that leads to a finish that's mostly spice, I'm thinking white pepper. Overall, I'd say I'm happy I got it for $45 instead of $90 as I'm not in love with the palate, though I could nose this all day long. In the end, it's a worthwhile purchase if only to experience what a 19 Year Single Grain is like for this price. I'll be interested to see how the bottle develops over time, as this doesn't strike me as a go-to regular drinker, but I'm sure I'll break it out the next time my dad and brother-in-law are over to see what their thoughts are, and since my wife was just brushing the kids' teeth before bed, she hasn't weighed in and her reflections often differ from mine. But I get the sense she'll be appreciative of it as something new and different. And there goes another year, folks. Here's to another and another I hope. 19 more and 19 more, if that's what I'm given. And hopefully many more tastings. Cheers! (Update 02 December 2022: downgrading this to a 3. My initial impressions were a bit off likely due to a combination of my celebratory mood and the cake I had prior to imbibing; my notes aren't off, I was just being kind because, well, don't we all feel a little kinder on our birthdays?)