Origin: Ireland
Type: Single Malt Irish Whisky
Strength: 45.4%ABV
Ageing cask: Ex-Bourbon Hogshead
Chillfiltered: No
Added colouring: No
Owner: J & A Mitchell & Co Ltd.
Average price: € 80.00
Official website: www.cadenhead.scot
Vote: 83/100
This bottle represents a (sadly) missed opportunity.
Part of the annual series that the Scottish bottler dedicates to the Cadenhead’s Shops scattered across Europe, the Italian version has always displayed one of the emblems of the city of Milan, namely La Scala, as there is no longer a physical shop window to show unlike in other countries.
The year 2021 was supposed to mark the turning point, with the opening of the new Italian Cadenhead’s Shop at last.
Or at least it was supposed to.
Because nothing came of the shop, but by then the bottling was ready, and so the illustration of the famous Milanese theatre was used again, making the bottle available for tasting and sale in Cadenhead’s Points scattered across the country.
Having put that aside, let’s come to the content, namely an Irish whiskey of undeclared (but easily guessed) provenance that from an ex-Bourbon cask from 2006 produced 306 bottles in 2021, distributed towards the end of the year.
Although, as the description goes, it’s not officially a whiskey: not having been entirely processed on Irish soil, as is the case with its Scottish cousins’ regulations, it cannot therefore be defined as such, hence the peculiar specification of ‘Irish spirit drink’.
And let’s see what this drink is like…
Tasting notes
On the nose it’s deliciously sweet like a fruit plumcake, with chunks of pear, apricot, banana and apple in a fragrant mix with cinnamon and a hint of nutmeg. There is some cereal and malt in the background, with a slight vein of propolis that becomes almost waxy in length. Tantalizing and a little pandering.
More sparkling and lively than the alcohol content might lead you to expect on the palate, the sweet and fruity part loses itself a little in the brighter tones of nutmeg and white pepper, with a few incursions of polished wood. The fruit returns to the proscenium over time, however, keeping to the white fruit with the addition of traces of peach and pineapple, while a vegetal note peeps through in the background.
The finish isn’t very long with the vegetal vein in the foreground associated with spices, pineapple, peach and brushstrokes of rhubarb.
Much more interesting on the nose than in the mouth, where it loses itself a little especially at the beginning but recovers some cues in length, although without showing any particular complexity or evolution. A pleasant and disengaged dram… sorry, drink!