Rúa is Gaelic for “red head" and a very literal name for this whiskey made by Great Wagon Road Distilling Co. There is a very noticeable red color to this American Single Malt, though standard bottling tends to be a bit lighter. This particular batch is a special bottling that was aged 5 years as opposed to the normal 2 to 3. A good friend brought it over to share and ended up leaving the bottle as a gift. According to him, this particular batch was also aged in much smaller 5 gallon gallon barrels instead of the usual 25. Started by Oliver "Ollie" Mulligan, Great Wagon Road Distilling began in 2013. The name of the distillery comes from the trail that stretched from Pennsylvania through North Carolina and down to Georgia. It was known as The Great Wagon Road and was used by early colonists and their wagons to travel and settle southern states, including North Carolina. This is a very hands on craft distillery and apparently Ollie regularly transports water from a spring on his property for use in distilling. I would like to think that whoever bottled this batch knew exactly how great this particular bottling run was and sampled it liberally. This for sure would explain the handwritten "92%" ABV mistake on the label. On the nose there's a lot of fruit, apples, apricots, sweet berry jam. On the palate much of the same but with caramel, some barrel char, and leather. Finishes with baking spices, black pepper, and sour apple. This is one of the best American Single Malts I've personally ever sampled. Absolutely worth picking up their standard bottling even if it may not be nearly as great as this batch.