Knappogue Castle 14 Year Old

Nose: A rum forward nose (lots of alcohol) with a slight musty sherry smell. This is followed by fresh barley with notes of wood, unripe (green) banana and vanilla.

Taste: Neat it's a bitter herbal arrival followed by sweet wood and fruit notes. I taste pears and green apples, but predominantly it's rather bitter and herbal . Body is light but without much balance or transition of flavors from the nose.

Finish: Bitter wood and vanilla. Gone in a flash.

From the bottle, it states that this is a marriage of whiskey aged for 14 years in both oloroso and bourbon barrels. From the way it tastes, I can't even pick up the sherry other than minutely in the nose. I'd say the sherry maturation has largely been a failure or is not blended in equal parts as the bourbon, because almost nothing of the typical sherry characteristics are found in this spirit. It's decent but nothing I'll be repurchasing.

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