Origin: Ireland
Type: Blended Irish Whiskey
Strength: 47.2%ABV
Ageing casks: Ex-Bourbon and new
Chillfiltered: No
Added colouring: No
Owner: Dream Whisky
Average price: € 85.00
Official website: whiskeymatthew.com
Vote: 84/100
The second release under the Matthew label (November 2023, waiting for the third that will complete the core range), still in Ireland with a blended of single malt (triple distillation) and grain, which in the idea of its creators aims to reproduce the old style of Scottish blends, with a peatiness that is very much present, while distancing itself from it in the typology.
Nearly 40% peated malt matured in first-fill ex-bourbon casks, the rest composed of single grains of different (even important) ages in new American casks.
Tasting notes
Fleshy and pungent, the peat on the nose immediately becomes intense and thick, strongly spiced as a meat stock left to run long with handfuls of cloves and nutmeg, combined with ever so slightly extreme sweetish notes of extremely ripe fruit (peach, cherry, pear). The aromas are so ‘dark’ that it’s hard to accept that no wine or sherry casks have intervened, so much so that used leather, sulphur undertones and an underlying mineral vein also appear. Wet Barbour jacket. Blindly, I would have said it could be a Ledaig (and that’s a compliment).
Less extreme on the palate, where the peat becomes smokier and ashy and loses the umami part, as a poor connoisseur of the cocktail world, my first impact was to find a Boulevardier in my glass (aficionados forgive me for any heresy!), with a sweet/bitter component combined with orange zest. Fresh and spicy at the same time, it appears fuller than its strength would suggest, with a slight salty patina left on the lips. The evocation of some Campari grows in length.
Quite long finish of ash, spices, orange zest, salty note.
I am a little divided about this whiskey, on the nose it delighted me (the evocation of the blends of yesteryear was spot on), on the palate however, it threw me off, and I struggle to bring it into focus. But as I like to be challenged, for that very reason I appreciate it, maybe not the whiskey of a lifetime, but certainly something pleasantly different.