Tullamore Dew Single Malt 10 years old, first released in late 2009, was double distilled at the Cooley Distillery. It was matured in bourbon barrels before portions were finished in a combination of Madeira, Port, and Sherry casks. The reviewed bottle has been open for four weeks.
Nose: floral, fruity sweet and some sour citrus, with elements of all of the wine finishes present. If you didn't know in advance which wine finishes were used, you might need a good bit of time to ferret out the various contrasting flavours. They are all there, and you can smell each of them. This malt seems to have a greater than average amount of bourbon residue left in the flavouring. The wood influence is very noticeable here, after the initial fruity wine and citrus greeting. This is a very interesting and quite complex nose. Oddly, despite being bottled at only 40% ABV, the alcohol greeting is rather strong, and detracts a little from the overall effect.
Taste: all of the nose flavours translate onto the palate. The flavours are strong, and stronger and fuller still after four weeks of bottle open. There is a great deal of complexity, particularly if you like appreciating the hunting for the wine finish flavours. I CAN taste all of the individual wine flavours here, and that is my favourite characteristic of this malt. A moderate strength of lemon citrus is the other prominent flavour here. Malted barley flavour very much takes a back seat to the wine and citrus flavours.
Finish: very strong and long, continuing the citrus and wine theme. I particularly like the wine flavours on the finish. The citrus component is more than I like.
Balance: I enjoy these flavours a lot, but would prefer less citrus in the mix. For my palate a little citrus is usually ok, but moderate or strong citrus is distracting to the balance. I like the elements of this whiskey very much, but feel that the citrus is overdone.
This bloody website was messing up the score and when I hit enter, it published this unfinished review. Of course, it doesn't let you edit your review (only the score), so I have to finish it here:
Very close to the 12 Year Old in style and substance, though perhaps without quite as much depth, but a little more vibrancy. Much more complex than the duller standard expression. If you can find the 10 or 12 year olds (which are not yet available in Ontario), grab them.