Irish Single Malt Whiskey 17 Year Old 2002 The Whisky Mercenary

At the very end of this ‘weird year’ Jürgen Vromans launches a final bottling, again with a great label. The noble man – Jürgen at a later age? – holds a potato with a 1st place medal on it in his hand, which is a not so subtle reference to Cooley. So we do not need to search for the distillery and can concentrate on the contents of the bottle, which matured for 17 years.

A little OMG-moment happens as soon as I put my nose in the glass. It smells deliciously delicate and very fruity. Banana, kiwi, goldberry, litchi but also mocha and soft nougat. Excellent nose!

It is oily and sticks to the teeth. Again very fruity – citrus and kiwi join the fray – but also pretty feisty on pepper and liquorice and some eucalyptus for a fresh lift.

A long, sweet, delicately spicy and satisfying finish ensues.

Do I have some space left on my Christmas list? Around 170 EUR, which is about 10 EUR per year of maturation. Happy holidays!