The company motto of Glendalough is ‘Stand Apart’, and it is high quality bottlings like this one that allow them to do just that.
This cracking Irish blend has been aged initially in first fill Bourbon barrels, before being finished for a period in casks that have previously held XO grade Calvados.
This maturation has given the final product a thick, buttery Bourbon cask background, with notes of vanilla, wood spice, toffee apple and brown sugar, upon which the fruitier notes provided by the Calvados cask can assert themselves. This finishing period has given the whisky notes of green apples, grapes, crushed flowers and cigar smoke. All of this is accompanied by classic Irish notes of grass, caramel malt and peppery spice.
This single cask whiskey displays a great level of complexity, rarely seen in these younger Irish bottlings.