By Richard Thomas
Rating: A
(Credit: Keeper’s Heart)
Minneapolis’s O’Shaughnessy Distilling Company has shipped it’s oldest offering yet through its Keeper’s Heart brand: a 32 year old Irish single malt. That is much older than the previous release from Keeper’s Heart of this type, last year’s 21 year old. O’Shaughnessy is the distillery that acquired the services of the former New Midleton Master Distiller Brian Nation, who has since been engaged with running the valves at the distillery, importing Irish whiskeys and releasing a mix of hybrids and direct bottlings.
The whiskey in the bottle was sourced from the Cooley Distillery, and at the time the whiskey in question was distilled Cooley was independent and one of just three distilleries in Ireland. Brian Nation chose the barrel in question back in 2020, so this is a single barrel release. Another production note is that, according to Nation, the pot stills used had been used to make peated malt in the previous production run, but were improperly cleaned, leaving some peaty wort residue in the stills to bleed into the flavor of this barrel’s run. The whiskey is bottled at 54.9% ABV
The Whiskey
The golden liquid has a scent of pears and apples sitting in a pool of honey, and that dish is on a table standing on a bed of straw atop a layer of ash.
Only on the palate do I see why Nation called attention to where the peat in the whiskey comes from, because if he had not I would have assumed this was a 32 year old take on the Connemara stock. I was surprised by just how much peat was in the drink, given that it was essentially a residue as new make and this is decades later. Peat, after all, fades with time. On the palate, the nose flips and then some. The peat smoke really comes to the fore, and that whiff of straw morphs into dry, spicy oak. The apple and pears fall into the background, but the honey sweetness remains very much at center stage and up-front, pairing nicely with the thick, syrupy texture of the whiskey. The finish runs smoky and minty.
If you like smoky Irish whiskey, this is for you. It’s thick, delicious and well-rounded.
The Price
Officially, this offering is $2,900 per bottle.