Cooley Distillery is an Irish Whiskey Distillery located on the Cooley peninsula in County Louth, Ireland. John Teeling purchased the old potato alcohol plant in 1985 and, in two years, converted it into Cooley Distillery. In 2011, Cooley was purchased by Beam Inc. and then in 2014, by Suntory and is now a Beam Suntory subsidiary. The distillery is equipped with 1 wash still (16,000L), 1 spirit still (16,000L) and 3 column stills. They produce 3 different expressions: Kilbeggan is their blended whiskey, Connemara is their peated single malt expression and Tyrconnell is their non-peated single malt whiskey.
In 1876, R.M.Delamere entered his chestnut colt, Tyrconnell, in the prestigious National Produce Stakes horse race. Racing against incredible odds, Tyrconnell came out the victor, capturing the amazement of the gathered crowd. In that crowd was local distiller A.A. Watt. He was so taken with this horse that he decided to name a limited edition, small batch whiskey after him. This whiskey was so popular that it lived on and was then taken up and preserved by Cooley distillery to this day.
Tyrconnell 15-Year-Old is a double-distilled single malt whisky finished in Madeira casks. Madeira is a fortified wine made on the Portuguese islands of Madeira, off the coast of Africa. The Madeira cask finish gives this whisky subtle notes of tropical fruit, toasted hazelnut and some raisiny notes on the finish.
Here’s my take!
Nose: Tropical fruit, toast, nuts and honey.
Palate: More fruit, honey, toasted malt, coffee.
Finish: Medium in length, sweet honey, raisins.
This is an awesome Irish expression, double distilled (Scottish style), and I highly recommend picking one up if you are looking for a rich well rounded Irish Single malt.