Silkies (generally selkies) are legendary creatures, seals which might be in a position to shift form and develop into irresistible human-like beings on land. Sliabh Liag Distillers
In historical instances the Sliabh Liag peninsula has been dwelling to bootleggers, who have been famed for making higher high quality poitin than elsewhere in Eire. The final distillery went silent in 1841 till Sliabh Liag Distillers established their enterprise.
On their web site they declare to face for authenticity and transparency. Nevertheless trivial data like their basis 12 months or the provenance of their spirit is nowhere to be discovered. I assume what we’re making an attempt right this moment is spirit that was not distilled on web site however acquired from bulk producers like GND.
The Legendary Silkie is a blended Irish whiskey (though they eliminated the phrase blended from the labels a while in the past). It’s a mixture of round 13% double distilled malt, 17% triple distilled malt (together with 4% peated) and 70% column distilled corn whiskey.
In addition they produced an Irish maritime gin referred to as An Dúlamán and a vodka.
The Legendary Silkie (46%, Sliabh Liag Distillers 2021, Irish blended whiskey)
Nostril: a grainy begin on farmer’s bread and ginger cookies. That is rapidly adopted by milky / buttery notes and a touch of vanilla yoghurt. Honey and yellow apple. A delicate floral high notice as effectively.
Mouth: gentle and candy, with honey and caramel popping out. Quickly the younger, barely newmake-y character comes out, with echoes of American moonshine and buttered popcorn. Apples and vanilla biscuits, with hints of pine wooden and a really faint trace of smoke.
End: not too lengthy and barely spirity.
Easy entry-level whiskey. I can see this work with ice in a bar, nevertheless it’s not precisely connoisseurs materials. In Belgium it’s distributed by Munros – I consider they’re nonetheless engaged on worldwide distribution.
Now onto The Legendary Darkish Silkie, which ups the peated components. Round 15% of the recipe is now peated malt (55 ppm within the malt, round 22 ppm within the spirit) from sherry casks, the remainder is malt and grain whiskey from bourbon and virgin oak casks.
The Legendary Darkish Silkie (46%, Sliabh Liag Distillers +/- 2021, Irish blended whiskey)
Nostril: there’s a (modest) trace of mezquite smoke and scorched pine wooden, which sadly additionally masks a few of the authentic complexity. Beneath I get the identical ginger cookies, now with banana notes. An analogous buttery notice with sharper grains rising stronger over time. A minty notice as effectively.
Mouth: nonetheless much less smoky than I anticipated from 55 ppm. There’s apple, a great deal of grainy / spirity notes and hints of white pepper. Candy liquorice roots too.
End: brief, with hints of caramel sweetness, juniper and chocolate coated nuts.
The smoke may be very a lot on an informal stage right here, as in the event that they don’t wish to scare the individuals consuming this in a bar. You achieve a bit of smoke however you lose different components, which implies the complexity remains to be fairly low. Rating: 69/100
The final one is The Legendary Midnight Silkie – the latest and smokiest model. It’s also a blended malt whiskey – it consists of solely triple distilled malt, 35% of which was peated. The remaining half comes from totally different cask sorts: sherry & virgin oak, Imperial stout, Oloroso and crimson wine.
The Legendary Midnight Silkie (46%, Sliabh Liag Distillers +/- 2021, Irish blended whiskey)
Nostril: richer and extra layered. A Demerara notice comes out with hints of raisins, nutmeg and mint, in addition to baked apples and peaches. Additionally milk chocolate and fudge. It additionally exhibits a brilliant lemony high notice. Whereas it’s richer, it doesn’t appear to be smokier than the Darkish.
Mouth: regardless of the richness of the nostril, it’s now sharper. On the one hand there’s lemon peel, alternatively pepper and juniper. There’s even a harsh edge within the background (possibly the wine, possibly the stout?). After some time it turns into extra caramelly and raisiny, with milk chocolate and toffee.
End: medium, with toffee and oak spice.
This can be disappointing for those who’re shopping for it primarily based on the promise of being the smokiest whiskey. Aside from that, it’s a step up from the opposite two variations by way of richness. The stability remains to be missing although. Rating: 74/100
We’ll certainly revisit Sliabh Liag whiskey as soon as their very own distillation is able to be bottled. For now it’s a slightly unremarkable model.
