Connemara ’Ambassadors Choice’ 8yo 49% ABV

Friends! Two weekends ago I did a tasting for some friends. The tasting consisted of  three Connemaras, two Laphroaigs and a Clynelish. What was special about the tasting, apart from being in great company with really nice people, was that I actually opened up a bottle from my small Connemara-collection.

Now it wasn’t any ordinary Connemara but a single bourbon cask matured Connemara for Belgium only, chosen by Cooley brand ambassador Aoife O’Sullivan. The bottle I opened was no. 206 of circa 230. The whiskey was distilled 2001-03-27 and bottled 2009-08-24. You might think I’m crazy opening up such a rare bottle, and on top of that signed by Aoife herself (!)… No I’m not crazy, whiskey is made to be tasted! Oh by the way, I have another bottle of this one J 

Ok, since I didn’t have time to do a tasting note during the tasting, let’s do it now!

Nose:

Incredibly soft! Probably the softest Connemara I’ve ever nosed. Huge vanilla dominance. Beneath that we have a layer of peach-candy, some other very red/orangey notes and of course the peat, which in this case is soooo gentle… The earthy/forresty/green notes that I often find in different bottlings of Connemara, and I would also say is the basic characteristic of Connemara, is basically just there in the distant so here we really have a focus on the vanilla and the peach. It’s hard to belive that this one is only 8yo, the incredible softness suggests an older whiskey than that…

Palate:

Oh yeah, it really is soft on the palate too… a bit salty just in the very start of the palate, also a bit dry, but mainly softness. The basic composition of this Connemara really is vanilla, peach-candy and peat, just as on the nose, but we also have something quite creamy, fudge and just a tad dryness reminding me of something almondy… We also have a touch of arrack mixed with some very ”liquorice-y liquorice”, not salt – not sweet, hard to explain… again this is a very soft dram, I can’t even feel the 49% which I think is one of the things that makes this particular bottling so tasty J

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