Irish Single Malt Whiskey #1 15yo batch 6 TBWC

Irish #1 15yo Batch 6 That Boutique-y Whisky Company

For several years now—though the exact starting point is unclear to me—the English retailer Master of Malt has organised its Whisky Santa event. Participants send their whisky wishes through social media for a chance to win, with some exceptional bottles chosen by the team at MoM as special prizes. Occasionally, this humble author took a chance, fully aware that winning seemed unlikely due to residing in France and the shipping restrictions caused by Brexit. Despite this, I continued to participate, and Whisky Santa eventually granted my wish at the end of last year by sending the Boutique-y Whisky Company 2024 Advent Calendar.

Since Whisky Santa could not ship directly to France—something about elves with outdated passports and a sled under repair—the calendar arrived at a trusted friend’s address. Coincidentally, that friend happens to be Dave Worthington, Boutique-y Whisky’s own brand ambassador. When we met again in London at the end of May, during a short trip with my children, the opportunity arose to collect all the whisky previously sent to Dave due to similar shipping challenges.

As this calendar now belongs to last year, and with plans to explore a Cognac advent calendar this year, I’ve decided to open it outside the traditional season. The tasting will not follow the original order; instead, some drams will be grouped together for review. For now, I’ll skip door number one and instead reveal door number two, which contained an Irish Single Malt Whiskey #1, 15-year-old Batch 6 from That Boutique-y Whisky Company.

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Teeling 21-year-old Rising Reserve No.3

Teeling 21-Year-Old Rising Reserve No.3

For a change, we’re reviewing a whiskey that’s actually still available and not already sold out, long gone, or marked up threefold on the secondary market. Hard to believe, right? Recently, I was working as an exhibitor for a Scottish independent bottler at the Nantes Spirits Festival, a whisky show. It has nothing to do with this Teeling, I know, but one of the perks of being an exhibitor is the chance to sample a few whiskies and malternatives before or after the event opens to the public—or even during a quick break. Who needs food when you can savour some good or even exceptional whiskies and cognacs, right? Anyway, while I was pouring my own whiskies for Baptiste Charron, the French Teeling ambassador, we got talking, and he introduced me to the Teeling 21-year-old Rising Reserve No.3, which I’m reviewing today. I was lucky enough to take a sample home with me to taste it again, with time and a fresh palate. But first…

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Single Malt Irish Whiskey #2 That Boutique-y Whisky Company

Two Irish Single Malt #2 TBWC

We were talking recently about secrets and transparency in the whisky industry… And it’s not just in Scotland, it happens elsewhere as well. For instance, That Boutique-y Whisky Company, that we’ve reviewed quite a lot of whiskies from in these pages, has bottled several batches of secret Irish whiskey. In today’s case, some Irish single malt. And with the age of these whiskies, we might have a good guess about which distillery is behind the Irish Single Malt Whisky #2 distillery at TBWC…

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Echlinville Distillery

Dunville’s 10-Year-Old PX

Dunville’s is an old Irish whiskey brand that has been revised by Shane Braniff, the founder of Echlinville Distillery. Originally created in 1808, this brand was active and very successful for more than a century. At the end of the 19th century, Ireland was producing 14 million gallons of whiskey a year. Out of those 14 million cases, 2.5 million were distilled at The Royal Irish Distilleries – the original home of Dunville’s Irish Whiskey. Unfortunately, in 1931, Robert Lambart Dunville, the fifth Chairman of Dunville & Co. Ltd., died suddenly at the age of 38. He had only one surviving brother, living in Australia and who didn’t want to take over the company. The distillery lost its way, distillation stopped in 1935 and the distillery was liquidated the next year. The name stayed silent for 80 years, until Echlinville bought this Belfast brand in order to resuscitate it a few years ago. We’ll review today a recent years Dunville’s: the Dunville’s 10-year-old PX.

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Glendalough 13-year-old Mizunara Oak Finish

Glendalough 13-year-old Mizunara Oak Finish

We’re back after a short break, and before reaching my own 200th whisky review and start a series with some closed distilleries, let’s do a quick trip between Ireland and Japan. What we’re tasting today is an Irish whiskey bottled by Glendalough, that has been finished in Japanese Mizunara oak casks. It had been some months since I wanted to try this whiskey… and I had kind of forgot my good friend Wim @dram_gazette had sent me a sample ages ago! So let’s talk a bit about Glendalough and about what Mizunara is, then we’ll review the Glendalough 13-year-old Mizunara oak finish.

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Walsh Whiskey Tweet Tasting 2021

Walsh Whiskey Tweet Tasting 2021

We’re back for another Walsh Whiskey Tweet Tasting, yay! Last year’s one was a really good one, with drams going from good to reaaally good. So what did they have for us in store for this year? Let’s find out what they brought for this Walsh Whiskey Tweet Tasting 2021. And if you want to know more about Walsh Whiskey’s history, go read my article from last year, then come back here to have a few drams with me.

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The Quiet Man Whiskey Tweet Tasting

The Quiet Man Whiskey Tweet Tasting

I guess you’re getting quite used to reading about Tweet Tastings from me now, as I’ve covered quite a few of them in the last 6 months… or more. Today, we’re back to an Irish bottler/blender, as we can see quite a lot these days. I guess it’s a sign the Irish whiskey industry is flourishing, so that’s quite good news! Let’s introduce The Quiet Man, before reviewing the three drams we got to try this time.

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Quick review: Irish Single Malt 13yo batch 2 TBWC

Quick review: Irish Single Malt 13yo batch 2 TBWC

Behind the fourteenth window of That Boutique-y Whisky Company’s 2019 Advent Calendar we will be reviewing each day until the 24th of December was hidden a psychedelic looking Irish Single Malt 13yo batch 2, bottled at 48.4% abv by that Boutique-y Whisky Company. The psychedelic label for this undisclosed Irish single malt is a no subtle at all reference to the Lovely Horse from Father Ted, and I absolutely love it. Though the distillery is undisclosed, there is probably very little choice as it’s a single malt and not a single pot still: it’s very probably either Bushmills or Cooley. This Irish Single Malt 13yo batch 2 TBWC is sold for the quite modest price of £59.95 on Master of Malt.

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