Knappogue Castle 12 Year Irish Whiskey

Our track record with Irish Whiskey has felt like a long and winding road.  We started with Jameson, which was fine.  Moved on the Dubliner, which felt like an improvement, before going to the Busker, which seemed debatably better.  That said, none of them ever quite hit wow.  So when the opportunity to try Knappogue Castle 12 Year Irish Whiskey came up, I was excited.  Not only does it have a good reputation, but it was one of the original bottles in Death & Co’s book.  So does it live up to the hype?

Knappogue Castle 12 Year Irish Whiskey

Knappogue Castle 12 Year Irish Whiskey is triple distilled using copper pot stills and aged 12 years in ex-bourbon casks.  Unlike the other Irish whiskeys we’ve covered so far, it is a single malt instead of a blend.

Sight:  14k Gold to Hay.

Smell:  The nose has a bit of heat to it, but pulls in vanilla, cream, touches of bourbon casks, and pears.  The nose evolves into spice, apple blossoms, heather, and other floral notes.   Caramel and cereal notes begin to crawl out with a bit of powdered sugar or cotton candy.

Sip:  The palate starts off light and becomes slightly creamy.   It opens up into apples, pears, banana, caramel, powdered sugar, butterscotch, and hints of oak with spice.  The butterscotch leans toward caramel, and works well with some of the heather characteristics that hide in the background.  There is also a hint of charred sugar as well (as though roasted over a campfire)

Savor:  The ending instantly perks up into crisp green apples and cereal notes.  Things shift into some of the oak spices and grain notes with a linger of charred marshmallow.

Knappogue Castle 12 is easy going and more fruity than it seems.   The notes of green apples and pears really live throughout this whiskey, and provide it with a stable core to build butterscotch and sugar flavors over.  Despite that it isn’t sweet, and it doesn’t try to overwhelm the imbiber.  The biggest ding against it the slightly aggressive alcohol forward nose, but overall it’s a wonderfully simple and easy going Irish whiskey.

In Cocktails

Knappogue Castle 12 Year Irish Whiskey is gentle and add it’s delicate cereal notes, hints of heather, and apple elements to the background of Cameron’s Kick.  The gentle character adds an underlying elegance that isn’t front and center, but steps in when it needs to.  The middling alcohol content (A.B.V. 43%) allows it to also add some good weight and texture without adding heat.  It almost adds that creaminess which is lovely.

In Review – Knappogue Castle 12 Year Irish Whiskey

Knappogue Castle 12 Year Irish Whiskey is heading into a higher echelon of whiskey at $40, but provides a good amount of character for the price.  The character of the creaminess is part of the standout nature of this whiskey.  The fruitiness gives it a lot of flavor that doesn’t get overwhelmed by the bourbon aging either.  Overall, there’s a lot to like here, and it currently represents our favorite Irish whiskey as of writing this.