Irish Whiskey | 66% ABV

Score: 7/10

**Very Good Indeed.**
***TL;DR***
*Flavour, depth and a delicious character*

Turned up to 11

With new distilleries come new expressions and experiences. An exciting path towards flavour and value. Work-in-progress bottles, followed by inaugural releases and finally a core range. While exciting, the amount of new releases recently can be overwhelming and send FOMO into overdrive.

Throughout the UK and Ireland, we have seen an incredible array of new brands and distilleries over this past decade. It's very hard to keep up, or even decide which one to take a punt on and try. These releases aren't fodder for supermarket blends and they’re not showing up on shelves having donned colouring within an inch of their lives, nor are they chill-filtered and 40% ABV.

I am thankful that I am yet to see any new release form new producers of late coming in with those levels of audacity. 46% seems to be the norm, with a real focus on the craft of distilling flavour and proper investment into good wood. Factors that'll define the distillery character, and provide the drinker with the best possible product they can produce.

With these releases, we're seeing another prevalent and welcomed trend of some version of a cask-strength bottle, or batch strength. While establishing the foundational core range, cask strength bottles seem a part of the plan rather than a last-minute decision. I've always found tremendous joy and value with cask strength releases. Not only do we get to experience and taste the liquid from a distillery in its purest, un-filtered and un-altered state, but we get to dictate the ABV. I'll either enjoy it as is, or carefully add subtle drops of water to see how the liquid inside the glass changes my experience and perception of the whisky.

I suppose you could look at the idea of a cask strength release as a sort of love letter to the enthusiast. 'This one's dedicated to you, the fans'. And these releases typically come out sub £100 here in the U.K. If we take the following as examples: Ardnamurchan, Clydeside, Kingsbarns, Lochlea, Wolfburn and Raasay to name but a few. Many could indeed just decide to release their standard core range, water that down to the legal requirement and aim for profits rather than quality and craft.

However, these cask-strength brutes come to us at a young age. An age that may range from 3 - 10 years old depending on the age of the distillery, which some deem a bad thing. Maybe 15 to 20 years ago this might have been perceived as a sub-par aspect when it came to whisky releases. I'm of the opinion that with less focus perhaps on cask quality or more on production volume, a whisky with an age of 12 years and above rounded out a liquids flavour and masked some shortcuts or efficiency-chasing in production. Like I stated above, with a real focal point on flavour, quality, craft and proper cask management, the 'younger' whisky releases of today come with a surprisingly enjoyable experience.

Despite the youthful character from some of these cask-strength releases, distilleries feel that they can charge the right amount of money while really delivering on full flavour, and an even fuller experience. Which is why I don't mind paying that little bit more for that added ABV.

That's how I've felt when sampling this cask strength expression from Shortcross. A distillery based in Northern Ireland, who's background and beginnings are with gin production. You can check out my feature on the Shortcross distillery here. It was during this tour that Archie, Tony and I went into a three way split for this Cask Strength release, as all three of us were fans of the very enjoyable Rye & Malt core range expression. But in terms of this Cask Strength version, here's what Archie and myself thought.

Review 1/2 — Hamish

Shortcross Rye & Malt Cask Strength, 100% Irish malted rye and malted barley, double distilled in copper pot stills, maturation in virgin chinkapin oak and ex-bourbon barrels, non-chill filtered and natural colour., 66% ABV

£85 & available from the distillery online shop

Nose

Raspberries and redcurrants. Soft plums. Cinnamon sticks and a sweetness that reminds me of hot tamales cinnamon candy. Tiny little touch of mint and pine leaves. Mixture of hard boiled sweets, similar flavour to brandy balls. A spread of rolled Scottish oats. Dried and dusty wood, vanilla cream and rounded off with salted caramel and pecan nuts.

Palate

Prickly and an explosive taste on arrival. A little oily with a medium weighted mouthfeel, turning a little dry towards the end of that first sip. Orange rind. Liquorice and aniseed. More dusty wood, similar resemblance to the nose. Malty. Delicious chewy sourdough bread. Hints of cherry cola with heavy sugared fudge, raisins and flaked almonds.

A super long and lingering finish. It contains more and more spice with every sip. It develops into a wood driven, and an oily citrusy mash that pairs well with those very tasty malted notes.

The Dregs

As a fan of Shortcross I was delighted to experience this whiskey. And was blown away (quite literally given its ABV), by the flavour and experience this dram brought. It took the core range Rye & Malt and just upped the flavour to another level.

Thoroughly enjoyable and a bottle I'd happily go out and purchase for myself. Delighted to have been part of this split. I'll admit, for £85 I was initially hesitant on paying that much for a cask strength Irish. I thought, 'here we go again, another over-priced whiskey from Ireland'. But it's well worth it, and then some. Whiskies like this make me very excited to see what’s next from Shortcross and the team. Well done.

Score: 7/10 HF

Review 2/2 — Archie

Score: 7/10

**Very Good Indeed.**
***TL;DR***
*Not cheap, but so much to play with*

Nose

Initially this feels a bit tight but considering the ABV there is no alcohol kick which is positive. A little time in the glass brings herbal notes of sage, juniper and fennel. Orange oil too with caramel, stewed apples and vanilla. Fresh rye bread along with warming baking spices of cinnamon and nutmeg. Chopped brazil nuts. There are some red berries too alongside fresh oak shavings. Water brings out heather honey, dates and sweetened black coffee.

Palate

A lovely mouthfeel to this, it’s syrupy thick. This is amazingly approachable for the ABV. More fruity than the nose with stewed apples, peach and dried apricots. Dates and fig compote. Seville orange marmalade and stem ginger syrup. There is an expected clove spice here too alongside cinnamon lozenges and some cocoa powder. I also got a hint of tobacco leaf and a dry nuttiness. Water brings out that coffee note from the nose and an almost oloroso like sweetness.

The finish is of medium length with warming spice, fudge and hazelnut chocolate.

The Dregs

I was already a fan of the Rye & Malt at 46% and you can read my thoughts of it here on Dramface. However it was a spicy little number and maybe a little too wood driven for me. When we bought the cask strength version I was half expecting our faces to be ripped off in a wood and spice explosion. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

This was much more balanced between nose and palate delivering fruitiness and spice in abundance, at times even veering off into sherried territory although there are no sherry casks in the vatting. £85 isn’t cheap but you get a lot to play with here, that 66% abv meaning with the addition of water you will easily stretch this bottle out.

It’s great to see a ‘young’ whiskey with such poise and character and this only bodes well for future Shortcross releases. Definitely an Irish distillery to keep your eye on.

Score: 7/10 AG

Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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