Connemara Peated Single Malt

About the Connemara Peated Single Malt

Connemara Peated Single Malt is a peated single malt Irish whisky made at Cooley, the Connemara distillery's home in Ireland. It revives an old Irish habit of drying malted barley over peat fires. Almost no other Irish producer still works this way. That smoke is only half the story. Connemara is double-distilled, not triple-distilled like most Irish whisky. Two passes through the still leave the spirit richer and more textured. It carries the weight a heavily peaty malt needs. The flavour is a study in contrast. Sweet honey, ripe pear and fresh fruit open the palate. A steady curl of smoky peat sits behind them. Lemon and citrus add lift. Vanilla and oak from the bourbon casks round things off. There is a faint medicinal, briny edge that smoke lovers will recognise. Cooley Distillery sits on the Cooley Peninsula, founded in 1987 by John Teeling. It built its name by reviving styles the big Irish houses had abandoned. This whisky is the clearest proof of that mission. Peat was once common in Ireland, and Connemara keeps that memory alive. Connemara Peated Single Malt drinks best neat. Use a glass that lets the smoke rise. The peat never overwhelms the malty, floral sweetness underneath. It is a fine entry point for anyone curious about peaty whisky. It avoids the heaviness of some Scottish smoke bombs. Few bottles capture Ireland and turf smoke together quite like this one. It is smoke with a soft Irish accent. That sets it apart from its Scottish cousins.