Cooley 2001, Liquid Treasures

Nose: typical fruity notes (melons, guava, pink bananas) with equally typical marshmallows and vanilla cream. Citrus candy bears. Hints of white oak and fresh grassy notes. Some oily notes as well

Mouth: a greener kind of fruits now, like greengages, pear, grapefruits and lemon zest. Grassy notes with a wee mustardy edge. Ginger and a subtle herbal bitterness. Plenty of green tea. Some oak shavings adding structure and weight.

Finish: quite long, zesty, with grapefruit and herbs staying strong.

This Cooley has a nice (but never opulent) fruitiness, but it stays on the green side of the orchard. It even adds some Highlands characteristics. Good but quite expensive. A few bottles remain at eSpirits.

 

Cooley 2001/2021 (50.7%, Liquid Treasures, Ireland, barrel, cask #3062, 183 bottles) 
This should go down smoothly and effortlessly. Very good house, Liquid Treasures. Colour: white wine. Nose: back to spirity matters, with less wood and more distillate. Yet there are touches of cellulosic varnish at first, then those small white pineapples (I mean the flesh is white), a pinch of grated coconut, then a drop of mezcal and one of gentian EDV, which just balances the fruitiness in an extraordinary manner. Triple-flip roll! With water: typical, grapefruit and pineapple juice with a drop of mezcal and some angelica. Mouth (neat): extremely fruity. This one shows why generations (quite) of whisky enthusiasts could never quite tell their Bushmills from their Cooleys. Nutshell, mangos and honey. With water: a whole basket of fruit. Citrus and passion/mango leading the way. Finish: medium, on multivitamin juice and just sauvignon blanc. Comments: it's perhaps not the most complex fresh-fruit-led whisky ever, but I'm still a fan. They're just so sippable and unintellectual…
SGP:651 - 88 points.