Happy Friday! After hearing the Whiskey Cast episode where they interviewed the folks behind the Dead Rabbit, I was intrigued... especially since I don’t drink Irish whiskey, generally finding it too mild for my preference. Here are my notes: Dead Rabbit Aged 5 years, 88 proof, Debut release 3/1/18 Nose: Big cereal grain and freshly cracked barley malt. Underneath the veil of barley lies freshly toasted oak. This smells like a particularly malty Speyside if it were aged in new American oak. The scent is straightforward, but not lacking in complexity, just deeply barley, and deeply oak. As it breathes, I find white grape must. Taste: Oh so thick! On the palate, it floats like honey or B grade maple syrup. It definitely has a clean flavor at its core, as most Irish whiskies do, and if it didn't have anything else, the great velvety texture with a hint of heat would support it just fine. However, the big oak presence is there; It's woody, like fresh pencils, new limbs, and seasoned log piles; It's spicy, like flame-charred jalepeno peppers, spicy, with a toasty bitter skin, and green soft berry beneath. Though it gives great texture and viscosity, the barrel finishing also gives a touch of sweetness. With just abit of time, that buttery Chardonnay flavor blooms forth... all of a sudden, this dram has something going on! Finish: Husky barley flavors dwell, as the footstools of tongue-smacking oak tannin, a dab of puckering oak tartness, and a heavy laquer of that oak barrel sugar that leaves your palate still feeling silky, but just dusted with white peppercorn and mace. Overall: OK, you got me. I found an Irish whiskey I like and would drink! This is like a fair American whiskey and a mild Highland single malt had a lovechild and it somehow came out Irish.