Review 274. W.D. O’Connell 11 yo single grain (Cooley)

(The most "redundant" review you'll still want to read?)

It’s a mere coincidence, but when  prepping this week’s review it dawned on me that this one too is a whisky from an indie bottler that is represented and distributed here in Belgium by Jürgen from The Whisky Mercenary.

This is a whisky many of you will possibly (likely) never try as it is a ‘warehouse exclusive’ and can only be picked up when you’re actually at W.D. O’Connell headquarters. As was my buddy Tom, whose love for Scotch whisky may only be surpassed by his love for Ireland. It’s fair to say the he visits the Emerald Isle at least once or twice a year, and seeing how in recent years you can, once again, find plenty of distilleries there too, this will surely only add to the pleasure, not to mention the incentive to visit. He kindly gifted me a sample of today’s whiskey during our last meetup a few weeks back.  I’ve been to Ireland twice, both times in Kerry, when my interest in whisky was only just an ember waiting to lit the fuse and thus, at that time,  was happy to just settle for a Paddy’s in the local pub. (To this day, I have a bit of a soft spot for that brand, because of the time and place in my life and the people it’s connected with. Revisiting Ireland is pretty high on the ‘to do’ list…) But I digress.

So why review a whisky very few will ever try? Well, for starters I don’t really chase numbers. I could review ‘household names’ or popular brands more often, and likely those would  attract more readers and attention, but other than a bit of an ego-boost, what would that really mean when there’s probably dozens of blogs and channels who will have talked about it already and might have done a better job at it than I would’ve?

Basically, the sole reason for me to decide whether or  not to review a whisky, is: do I find it interesting?  And this one sure grabbed my attention.

W.D. O’Connell 11 yo single grain (Cooley) tequila Cask.  Warehouse Exclusive, NC, UCF, 56.6% ABV, €75/£68, 50 CL bottle

The reason why this spoke to me before even trying it, was mainly that I don’t often pick Irish whiskey myself. On account of there being a truckload of other stuff (mostly from Scotland) I still need to try and experience, making it ‘easy’ to have Irish whiskey in my blind spot. But in this case it was also the specifics that got me intrigued. A fairly young grain is not something you see every day.  And then to notice that it’s been matured (finished?) in a tequila cask? Definitely something you don’t see every day. That was pretty much all the persuasion I needed…

Nose

A lot of ‘green’ notes initially:  herbal, eucalyptus… these remain but with a bit of time in the glass it gives way to other notes like lemon, vanilla and a lot of classic grain notes of pencil shavings and that synthetic sweetness you often find in  nail polish. Overall there’s a nice ‘freshness’ here as things remain crisp. There is a suggestion of the tequila casks, more than an actual flavour: guava, pebbles and a savoury – salty touch as well. After adding water(it doesn’t really need it, in my opinion, but I tried it on the first dram anyway) all those fresh, crisp notes get dialed up.

Palate

Take everything you get from the nose, dim that down a notch and then tune up the tequila influence, et voila. A bit more salt, a tad more of the guava and particularly the savoury -salty notes are more accentuated. Which, as it turns out, works a treat with the classic grain whisky notes. With added water the grainy elements become more pronounced.

Finish

Sweet-salty, a bit dry and a clear echo of those wood and pencil shaving notes.

Final thoughts

Tequila casks can be both a ‘marmite’ thing (you love it or hate it) and a case of all or nothing (either it works, or it is a bit of a disaster). In this case, it definitely works. Probably because the cask influence is noticeable but never really runs away with things. Everything remains gentle and easygoing, allowing for a very nice balance between spirit and cask. As is often the case with single grain whisky/whiskey, especially one that’s barely a teenager, there’s not a lot of  complexity here. In fact you could argue that this is a bit ‘linear’ even, but that takes absolutely nothing away from the fact that this is very tasty and very, very morish! Thanks Tom! Me like!