Everyone is working from home because of the pandemic, and still, I barely have time for one dram!
Today is St Patrick, however, and I do make an effort.
This is what we are having. We had some from another bottle
recently, which was very good. Let us see if we are as lucky tonight... :-)
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| A job and a half in the making |
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| Not too bad... |
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| Oh! blimey. |
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| The juice (on the right) |
19th Century Spirit, probably Irish Whiskey (unknown ABV, unknown bottler): nose: the most remarkably pungent peat aroma I have smelled in a beverage -- certainly an Irish one. Sphagnum, moss, bogs, wet campfire, burnt cork (the cork smelled exactly like the whiskey, by the way, but more concentrated. A forest after a wild fire, extinguished by torrential rains, stagnant water, slimy silt. Behind all that, I can smell delicate apple juice (so delicate I fear for the strength) and ink. Old scrolls, covered in fungus, rotting away, spent fireworks on a rainy night. Mouth: watery, it has little alcohol, but plenty of the peat-bog notes from the nose: stagnant water, silt, bogland, sphagnum, decaying plants... This is very vegetal, but it retains that apple touch, in the back, almost smothered by mud, gorged with water. Later, it is parsley-topped hoummous. Finish: vegetal, it showcases stagnant water again, green with slimy silt, then cigar ends -- banana-leaf cigars! All sorts of mosses, decayed sugar in water (is that a thing?), before the finish morphs to unveil ashy earth and burnt grapefruit skins. What a pity! This one had potential, but it is clearly spoiled by the low ABV. The murkiness gives it away, I suppose, but in that funky bottle, it was impossible to see before opening. Ah, well. What a fantastic opportunity, anyway! Tempted to go for 6 to mark the historical interest, but will not. 5/10
Happy confinement, Ireland!
19th Century Spirit, probably Irish Whiskey (unknown ABV, unknown bottler): nose: the most remarkably pungent peat aroma I have smelled in a beverage -- certainly an Irish one. Sphagnum, moss, bogs, wet campfire, burnt cork (the cork smelled exactly like the whiskey, by the way, but more concentrated. A forest after a wild fire, extinguished by torrential rains, stagnant water, slimy silt. Behind all that, I can smell delicate apple juice (so delicate I fear for the strength) and ink. Old scrolls, covered in fungus, rotting away, spent fireworks on a rainy night. Mouth: watery, it has little alcohol, but plenty of the peat-bog notes from the nose: stagnant water, silt, bogland, sphagnum, decaying plants... This is very vegetal, but it retains that apple touch, in the back, almost smothered by mud, gorged with water. Later, it is parsley-topped hoummous. Finish: vegetal, it showcases stagnant water again, green with slimy silt, then cigar ends -- banana-leaf cigars! All sorts of mosses, decayed sugar in water (is that a thing?), before the finish morphs to unveil ashy earth and burnt grapefruit skins. What a pity! This one had potential, but it is clearly spoiled by the low ABV. The murkiness gives it away, I suppose, but in that funky bottle, it was impossible to see before opening. Ah, well. What a fantastic opportunity, anyway! Tempted to go for 6 to mark the historical interest, but will not. 5/10
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