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Irish Whiskey Magazine - Tastings - West Cork 12 year old port cask finish

West Cork 12 year old port cask finish

The company has been on the go since 2003 and in 2013 they moved their distillery into larger premises based in Skibbereen, West Cork. This whiskey has had a short finish in a port cask before being bottled at 43% ABV.

John Moriarty Notes

Nose:

Spirit, honey, vanilla. Colour is a
pale straw.
 

Palate:

Peppery, spice, vanilla & honey
spicy.
 

Finish:

Short finish.

 

Overall:

I found no evidence of a port finish here at all; I think it may have only been very briefly in a port cask. I was expecting more in taste and bouquet being a 12 year old. One very odd thing was that that a good while after tasting this it developed a very wet damp musty timber sort of after taste which was not pleasant at all.

 

 

 

 

Stuart Irvine Notes

Nose:

Initially this is a bit tricky to get to grips with as the obvious tropical notes battle with the port finish for dominance. As it develops the tropical flavours win the battle with fresh banana, banana cream, a little green apple and a touch of lemon zest zing. The Port still finds time to come through with a little blackcurrant and raspberry. It would almost put you in mind of “Fruits of the Forest” yoghurt with the cream notes still coming through also. Any idea of spice is very restrained with only the mildest of pepper lingering under the fruits. With time the darker Port fruits marry with the citrus element to bring out a little orange. Very nice actually.
 

Palate:

Initially it’s all more of the same with citrus and banana giving way to red berries and a little more spice. Deeper lemons and oranges are to the fore with the black pepper and clove coming through nicely. The berries are also a lot deeper with distinct blackcurrant tailing off into a little bit more green apple. The fruits on the palate are definitely a lot richer in nature and I have to say this works really well.
 

Finish:

Deep, juicy, Port wine berries, a little dry spice and sour apple notes to finish.
 

Overall:

Overall I have been pleasantly surprised by this whiskey. Like I said I had heard a lot of different things about West Cork Distillers but it’s only when you actually try a product should you form your own opinion.

Irish-Whiskey-Magazine-John Moriarty

John Moriarty

Bar Manager with 5* Park Hotel Kenmare, Co. Kerry for 34 years. Brings people to their ‘senses’ regularly conducts Whiskey Master Classes professionally within the hotel, the Dublin Bar Academy and throughout Ireland. Involved with the Whiskey school at Dingle Whiskey Distillery. Teaches but is a ‘Whiskey student for ever’ learning constantly from John C. McDougall, Rachel McNeill & Prof Paul Hughes. Has achieved a General Cert
in distillation with the Institute of Brewing and Distilling.

Irish-Whiskey-Magazine-Stuart Irvine

Stuart Irvine

Stuart Irvine is a whiskey blogger based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Since first getting into whiskey around 5 years ago Stuart has amassed an incredible knowledge of all whiskeys and he has since started up his own highly  respected blog “Whisky Belfast”, is active on twitter as @Whisky_Belfast and contributes regularly on Facebook. Stuart regularly attends whiskey events both in his native Belfast, and further afield.

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