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 Hanson takes its name from Andrew Hanson, an exciseman back in Co.Clare back in the 1890's. Apparently, Hanson took a shine to JJ Corry's daughter, Josie, and took her hand in marriage. No better way of staying in with the exciseman than having him in the family.

🥃 Style - Blended Whiskey - 80% 10-Year-Old Grain Whiskey + 20% 4-Year-Old Grain Whiskey and this was bottled in 2020 and is Batch #2

🔢 The Numbers - $50 + Tax | 750ml. | 46% abv/92proof

👀 Appearance - This whiskey is light, light, light in color with just a hint of light yellow visible.

👃 Nose - On the nose, it's clean, fresh and shows a pleasing intensity of citrus character - think lemon and lime juice. There's also evidence of wood on the nose as it shows vanilla, a hint of caramel, and that wonderful smell you get when you stick your nose in a new charred oak barrel. This is rounded out by stonefruit notes that for me are the flesh and juice of nectarine. With Water Added - the stonefruit comes to the fore with a creaminess, while the charred barrel notes are less evident.

👅 Palate - Upfront there's fresh stonefruit - nectarine and peach - and that's followed by a warm medium pepper spice that coats the whole mouth. There's a lovely soft caramel character that compliments the other notes and makes for a lovely mouthfeel and a longish balanced finish. With Water Added - The spiced character fades slightly as the bright stone fruit notes are more evident.

📝 Conclusion - A very well made - good to very good - Irish Whiskey that shows a nice depth of flavor while still being on the lighter side. For me, this is a "summer sipper" whiskey that would not be out of place being served at the start of a meal as an "aperitif"

✅ 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 3.75 whiskey emojis to The Hanson Irish Whiskey 🥃🥃🥃3/4