Tyrconnell 15 Year Old Single Cask

Nose: A summery bowl of strawberry and mint, seasoned with fresh vanilla and enjoyed while sitting on a damp summer lawn. This summer treat is accompanied by melons and grapefruits, resting on a cereal bed of oatmeal and cashews, now savoured as the light breeze blows in the sweet aroma from the surrounding flower-beds.

Taste: Beautifully integrated and smooth sunshine, warmly embracing a citrus pool of vanilla, in which we find apples and melons floating abundantly, along with almonds, malt and cocoa. The breeze now blows in a refreshing herbal spice that helps keeps the palate light on its feet in the summer haze.

Finish: A seamless and far-stretching blue sky, with flocks of vanilla and pepper elegantly soaring across it, coming in to land on meadows of oatmeal, almond and cocoa. The breeze continues to carry in the herbal spice, as well as the floral note from the nose, before we round off the day with a luscious fruit bowl of melon and grapefruit.

Balance: Like a perfect summer afternoon, there is a lightness and warmth to this almost faultless dram. The smooth elegance and sophisticated simplicity with which it delivers its palate is truly a pleasure to savour. One could be fooled into thinking this was an aged Lowlander, much in the Lochside mould. The only negative, or rather constructive comment I could give it, would be that it is so well integrated and contained, that it feels like it could release its valves a bit further and still be effortlessly smooth, much like a Rolls-Royce in 2nd gear. What I would give to try this Cooley masterpiece at cask strength...