Cooley 13 Year Old 1999 The Whisky Mercenary

The Whisky Mercenary’s first Irish whiskey! So far, we can only hail Jürgen and his bottlings. Remember the previous gems: Glenlossie 1992, Clynelish 1997, Bowmore 2000, the great Bunna 1976 and the new Braeval 1993). Notice also that Jürgen has commissioned a new cartoon for the 2013 releases. Like!

The aromatic and fruity nose is immediately marked by peat and stable scents. So this is clearly an independent bottling of wat Cooley markets as Connemara (while those releases are much peatier). Very waxy. Quite some hay. Lemongrass. Pretty sweet, too. Pineapple, melon, strawberry, tangerine. Marshmallows. Ginger, vanilla and caramel.

It is creamy, smoky and very spicy on the palate. Sturdy peppers, ginger and salt. Licquorice that takes care of a bittersweet lining. Perfectly balanced by the fruit, in which citrus takes the lead.

The finish is long and spicy. It tingles a long while on the tongue before dying a bittersweet death.

A great Irish whiskey. Clearly a twin to the Cooley 1999 that was released last summer by Thosop, but a little more fruity and accessible. Around 80 EUR.