Knappogue Castle 16-year-old Twin Wood Sherry Finish / 43% / 0.7l

Knappogue Castle is an Irish whiskey, the brainchild of Mark Andrews III, founder of Great Spirits (now Castle Brands).

His father, Mark Edwin Andrews, a great Irish whiskey advocate, purchased Knappogue Castle in County Clare in the 1960s. He bought barrels of whiskey from producers and gave the bottled whiskey away to neighbors and family. (Mark Edwin Andrews was a naval officer, undersecretary of state under President Truman, and an oil investor.) Knappogue Castle 16 years Twin Wood old is an alternative version of Bushmills(?), a whiskey aged in bourbon barrels for over 14 years and finished in sherry casks. In the fall of 2019, Castle Brands was acquired by Pernod Ricard. 

Nose: pronounced sherry notes, honeyed breakfast cereal, vanilla, milk chocolate, orange peel, raisins, apricots, nougat, cinnamon and oak.

Palate: rich, chocolate-coated hazelnuts, raisins, prunes, nectarines, orange jam, toffee, nutmeg, traces of herbs and oak.

Finish : quite long, with notes of vanilla, dried fruit, nuts, cloves, cinnamon, sherry and oak.