Follow Us:

Blog

KWM 2021 Whisky Calendar Day 11: TBWC Irish 14 Year Old

Posted on March 19, 2025

by Evan

We are taking a trip away from Scotland for Day 11 in the Kensington Wine Market Whisky Calendar. Join us as we head to Ireland to taste one of That Boutique-y Whisky Company's Irish Single Malt #1 Batch #4 14 Year Old! 

This is the second mini bottle from That Boutique-y Whisky Company that we have featured in the 2021 KWM Whisky Calendar. The first we pulled on Day one: TBWC's 24 Year Old Speyside Single Malt Scotch.

I already talked about That Boutique-y Whisky Company and their quirky labels in that blog post so let's take a look at this specific bottle and what makes it tick:

About the Label - "The inspiration for this label comes straight out of a British made sitcom called ‘Father Ted’ It originally aired on Channel 4 from April 1995 and ran for just three series up until May 1998 Set on the fictional Craggy Island, a remote location off Ireland's west coast, the show is about three priests exiled on the island for various past incidents. Our label comes from an episode called ‘A Song for Europe’ that featured ‘My lovely Horse’"

We currently have two different full(er) sized 500ml versions of the Batch 1 Irish Whiskey from That Boutique-y in store. One is the 14-year-old version that we are about to taste, and the other is a 13-Year-Old. We do not know the exact distillery that this whiskey comes from, but That Boutique-y does give us a hint or two:

Producer Description: "Our fourth batch from this undisclosed Irish distillery is a 14 Year Old, a release of just 2,116 bottles at 47.6% abv. If you know your Irish Whiskey history, then you should be able to close down on the distilleries this could come from. It’s a single malt, so that rules out Ireland’s largest distillery, Midleton as they don’t make a single malt."

About that Irish Whiskey history: The Irish Whiskey Industry has been going through a massive swing from bust to boom over the past century. Here is a cliff notes version:

From 1966 to about 1987, there were only TWO companies producing Irish Whiskey. While these two companies didn't produce the exact same Irish Whiskey, much of what they did produce was triple distilled, all of it was unpeated, and some of it was Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey. It wasn't necessarily all homogeneous and the same, but it was definitely similar. That started to change in 1987 when a potato alcohol plant was converted and Cooley Distillery was revived by John Teeling.

Since then Irish Whiskey has slowly increased in prominence to the booming enterprise it is today, in which more than 30 distilleries either produce spirit to eventually become Irish Whiskey or in planning. Many of these distilleries will be producing Irish Whiskey in that triple distilled style, unpeated and even using the Single Pot Still tradition. Many of them will also experiment with different styles of Whiskey in an effort to differentiate themselves in a newly crowded category. And our conceptualization of what is Irish Whiskey will continue to expand and change and become more multifaceted because of this - just like it has with Scotch Whisky and other Whisky made 'round the world.

Given there were only three distilleries operating at the time this whiskey was distilled, that narrows the possibilities down to two. Since it is not Middleton. It has to be either Cooley/Kilbeggan or Bushmills. My guess is Cooley, but regardless, let's crack open the bottle and give it a taste!

That Boutique-y Irish Single Malt Batch# 4 14-Year-Old - 47.6%

Evan’s Tasting Note

Nose: Fuzzy peach candies, roasted cashew nuts, honey spread on toast, apple and pear crumble, and angel food cake.

Palate: Creamy and juicy on the palate with notes of pineapple and mango, vanilla custard, tapioca pudding, and a handful of assorted jelly beans. 

Finish: Fruit and juice all the way through with a touch of tingly effervescence. Like mixed a dash of Sprite in with your fruit cup.

Comment: This has more fruit than you could shake an orchard at with some nice light spice and nutty notes thrown in for good measure. Delicious! 

Awesome stuff! Based on the profile I am still thinking the whiskey was originally distilled at Cooley, but I could be wrong.*EDIT - I WAS WRONG! I have since heard that this is indeed from Bushmills* Either way it is lovely. See you tomorrow when we get back at it for Day Twelve!

Cheers,
Evan
evan@kensingtonwinemarket.com
Twitter and Instagram: @sagelikefool

This entry was posted in Whisky, Tastings, Whisky Calendars, Independent Bottler, KWM Whisky Calendar 2021

 

 

Recent Posts
Archives

Categories