I had the pleasure of tasting 2 fine Irish Whiskeys from JJ Corry recently - The Hanson & The Gael. And even better is that I didn’t have to pay for them as one was gifted to me by David the Neighbor, and he brought the other one that he bought to have them reunited! So I took the opportunity to do a deep dive (figuratively) into the whiskeys.

🏺 History/Background - JJ Corry was originally an Irish Whiskey Bonder in the late 1800's in Kilrush, Co. Clare. The old Irish art of craft of "bonding" has been revived by Louise Mc Guane who in 2015 restarted JJ Corry at Cooraclare, Co. Clare. Bonding means that the person buys new-make spirit from a distiller and matures it in their own "bonded" warehouse and is responsible for the maturation of the spirit in barrel and for its barrel finishing.

📖 The Story - The Gael takes its name from a bike that JJ Corry invented back in the 1890's. He was obviously a smart chap getting that done while also bonding great Irish Whiskey!

🥃 Style - Blended Whiskey - 5% 26-Year-Old Single Malt - Ex-Sherry Butt + 27.5% 11-Year-Old Single Malt + 27.5% 15-Year-Old Single Malt + 40% 7-Year-Old Single Grain and this was bottled on 14th April 2021

🔢 The Numbers - $75 + Tax | 750ml. | 46% abv/92proof

👀 Appearance - The Gael has a medium golden color, and is "darker" than its companion in this tasting, The Hanson.

👃 Nose - On the nose, it shows wood, smoke, and barrel char character right out of the gate. Just under that, there's a toffee/fudge character that is wrapped into a pepper spice and I pick up a hint of cinnamon. There's a warm malty character that comes through the more I nose. With Water Added - A sweet vanilla note comes to the fore with a light toffee/fudge, or possibly chocolate, character becoming a bit more evident. And right at the end, I pick up some candied orange!

👅 Palate - Warm baking spices of clove, cinnamon, and some pepper are balanced out by a hint of chocolate/ cocoa are wrapped up in a long balanced, and slightly spicy finish. With Water Added - the warm spices still come through and the chocolate/ cocoa is slightly accentuated, and that hint of candied orange is still there!

📝 Conclusion - This is beautiful, a very well-made Irish Whiskey that's in the very good to excellent range for me. It has a warm and deeply flavorsome palate of spice and coca with a candied orange hint. It's a lovely whiskey for serious winter sipping!

✅ Rating - On my not-too-scientific scale of 1 to 5 - with 1=Poor, 2=Okay, 3=Good, 4=Very Good, and 5=Excellent/Off The Hook - I give 4.25 whiskey emojis to The Gael Irish Whiskey 🥃🥃🥃🥃1/4