Not too long after I learned I very much enjoyed the standard bottling of Connemara, I noticed while at the Dead Rabbit that they had others and had to try one since a bottle is a bit outside my price range without knowing what I’m in for. This was enjoyed and reviewed neat in the wee hours on June 10, 2018, and then with a single ice cube. It was revisited at the same establishment on February 9, 2019 in the early evening neat, and then with a few drops of water.
Color: Pale gold.
Nose: Peat. Maybe molasses. Citrus. Maybe that’s cheese?
Taste: A bit dry, hard and harsh; somewhat hot and a bit herbal; not really malty; a bit oaky, peppery and salty; fairly peaty and spicy; smoky; a bit sweet and woody. I get an overwhelming sense of meat before swallowing.
Finish: The meat from the palate turns into smoke. It’s medium to long.
This tastes like the standard NAS bottling, but more like scotch. It is more enjoyable than that one. The ice ultimately made it harder and less palatable. Drops of water seemed to add (or possibly just emphasize) a scent of acetone in the nose. The palate and finish were not as negative as the ice cube and it remained largely the same, with all elements a bit muted and the finish shortened. Revisiting this from a definitively sober and clean palate changed my review and raised its rating (initially an 89). The first time around, while I thought it was better than the NAS expression, I didn’t think it was quite worth roughly double the price. Now I think it just may be. My anticipation for the other expressions from Connemara, while already high, has gone way up.`
Score: 91
No comments:
Post a Comment