The Quiet Man 8 Year Old

By Barry Bradford on June 22, 2016 • ( Leave a comment )

The Quiet Man 8 Year Old (40%, OB, 2016)

Category: Irish single malt pot still whiskey
Origin: ?
Bottling: Niche Drinks
ABV: 40%
Cost: £32.95 from The Lighthouse Wine Store / €44.99 from Celtic Whisky Shop

What they say:

The Quiet Man brand was born when Ciaran Mulgrew, managing director and co-owner of Niche Drinks, and founder of The Quiet Man, decided to create a whiskey to honor his father, John Mulgrew.

“The Quiet Man is a completely unique combination of hand selected whiskies, finished in first-fill bourbon barrels, creating sweet and spicy notes,” Ciaran Mulgrew said. “In more than 50 years behind the bar, my father saw and heard it all, but like all good bartenders, John Mulgrew was true to the code and told no tales. He was ‘The Quiet Man,’ or as they say in the pubs of Ireland, ‘An Fear Ciuin.’”

Distilled in traditional Irish whiskey pot stills matured in oak barrels and recasked in first-fill bourbon casks, The Quiet Man will be available in two varieties: The Quiet Man Traditional Blended Irish Whiskey and The Quiet Man 8-Year Single Malt Irish Whiskey, both bottled at 80 proof and sold in 750ML bottles. The Traditional Blended Irish Whiskey is aged four years and has a high malt percentage, compared to most blends, offering a mellow and ultra-smooth finish. The Single Malt offers a smooth taste and floral notes for a premium experience.

“The difference between a good whiskey and a great whiskey lies not just in picking the best ingredients and having the most skilled distiller,” Mulgrew added. “It lies in selecting the finest barrels to let the whiskey mature in. Our unique process of finishing the aging in barrels that previously held bourbon but never whiskey allows The Quiet Man to soak up those wonderfully sweet yet spicy oak flavors, and the result is two great Irish whiskies.”

The Quiet Man is currently available in Germany, South Africa, Canada and Ireland, and was first bottled in June 2015. It will be available in the U.S. in January, through a joint venture between Luxco and Niche Drinks, whose partnership dates back to 1986.

Suggested retail price is $39.99 for the blended variety and $49.99 for the single malt variety.

For more information on The Quiet Man, please visit www.thequietmanirishwhiskey.com, or www.facebook.com/the-quiet-man-irish-whiskey.

What I say:

Many thanks to Ciaran Mulgrew, Niche Drinks and Luxco for the sample of this 8 year old single malt Irish whiskey bottled under The Quiet Man label in honour of Ciaran’s bartending father John. Aged for 8 years in 1st fill ex-bourbon casks.

Colour:

Light and bright/refractive amber gold (8/20), thick & oily legs

Nose:

Subtle, dusty icing sugar, vanilla, light oak wood, gently toasted coconut, sweet & floral marigolds, runny honey

Taste:

Gentle & smooth on the palate, honey sweet with a hint of cinnamon and ginger spices, vanilla custard/Danish pastries, custard cream biscuits, coconut-scented broom, sandalwood and oak wood.

Finish:

Medium-short, vanilla cream sweetened with honey

Overall:

Pleasingly simple, a nice sipping whisky but would equally lend itself to a chaser paired with good creamy Irish stout or mixed into a long drink with ginger ale perhaps. Surprisingly light for an 8 year old, those 1st fill ex-bourbon casks have really tamed this spirit, this whisky doesn’t shout but whispers on the palate.