Connemara Original Peated Single Malt Irish Whiskey Review

Connemara Original Peated Single Malt Irish Whiskey Review
Its March and this is our final video celebrating St Patrick’s day. We are finishing with a peated single malt, Connemara Original.
Connemara claims to be Ireland’s only peated malt but we are wondering if there are others following suit now. It is matured n ex-bourbon casks and bottled at 40%abv and chill filtered. Confusingly it is not distilled in Connemara in the west of Ireland but at Cooley distillery in the east.
Have you tried Connemara Original? Or any of the other Connemara expressions? Let us know what you thought of them in the comments!
If you are looking to try some Irish Whiskey and you are in the UK keep an eye on our online shop for some St Paddy’s Day deals!!
We do in person and virtual tastings. Follow the link to book on! We'd Love to see you there! callander-drin...
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Music: Whiskey on the Mississippi Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License creativecommons...
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[@David-i9d8y]

Please never quit making these. Don't judge me but I'm an American and have just broken into the whiskey game. I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing but I love it. I appreciate your “every person” approach. ❤

[@TheGrailTastings]

Great! So glad we can help. No judgement here at all!

[@bdwilcox]

"...in my head, it makes perfect sense." That statement hit close to home.

[@TheGrailTastings]

😂 Indeed!

[@paddyduffy5967]

Cooley was an old plant that made alcohol from potatoes, John Teeling bought it in 1987 before selling it to Beam in 2011. His two sons set up Teeling distillery in Dublin. John Teeling now owns the Great Northern Distillery in Dundalk GND, and they are supplying a lot of grain and single malt whiskey to the new upcoming distilleries and independent bottlers. Sláinte is pronounced slan-cha, in both ireland and scotland.

[@TheGrailTastings]

Ah great whiskey info thanks! We have definitely anglecised Sláinte to slange for the purposes of cheersing! Gaelic in Ireland has been preserved better than Gaelic here in Scotland. When learning to speak Gaelic I do make an effort to add the "cha" at then end.

[@ARGONUAT]

@@TheGrailTastings And all that ‘early’ Teeling senior Cooley juice is the legendary “good stuff” from the 1990s!

[@jamesxenophon9505]

Actually the pronunciation depends on your dialect. In Munster, it would be pronounced slawn-ta.

[@DJMJRyder]

Teeling makes blackpitts which is peated I believe. I like connemara, it reminds me a little of Old Ballantruan, very floral and light

[@bowendesign]

Yes, also Lockes 8 - pretty hard to find when I was living in Ireland until, perplexingly, Lidl started selling it for a short while. Really good stuff if you can find it. Also from Cooley!

[@TheGrailTastings]

Oh will have to check Lidl!!

[@marbo715]

Hello you two. Waterford also has peated whiskeys. The Ballybannon for example is very tasty. Slàinte, Markus🥃

[@TheGrailTastings]

Oh that's one we hadn't thought of checking actually! Thanks for that!

[@Jakeknapp]

I just got back from a trip to Ireland and picked up a bottle of this to try. Glad to see a peated option from Ireland and I’ve been enjoying it. If I really want a peat bomb I’ll reach for Laphraoig CS or Ardbeg Uigeadail, but this is nice easy drinking without breaking the bank. Nice review, Sláinte!

[@TheGrailTastings]

Thanks! Agree!

[@marcho6265]

Leather and apples :)

[@jgaulorr]

You two are the best 😊. Great reviews!

[@leonstuij9540]

Dung and thin vanilla milkshake, it's my favourite. Man I love you guys' reviews =)

[@TheGrailTastings]

Sounds mingin' doesn't it?! Buts its actually quite pleasant!😂

[@robertjohnson787]

So John Teeling bought an alcohol plant in the late 1980s, turned it into a distillery and was dismissed by many in the existing Irish Whiskey industry. A former top brass of Irish Distillers Ltd (Jameson, Powers, Redbreast & Midleton) even said they would buy the recently formed Cooley distillery and bulldoze it down. Fortunately, John and Cooley prevailed and released many different brands for contract distilling and a few of their own brands. Connemara first came on the scene around 1993/1994. Jim Beam bought the Cooley distillery from John Teeling in 2011 for a handsome sum as they were in need of an Irish whiskey element to their portfolio. This no doubt played a part in Suntory taking over Jim Beam a short while later in 2014 for $16 Billion dollars. Cooley whiskey is often overlooked and many of their old releases can be picked up on the secondary market for very little money. My favourites include Greenore/Kilbeggan 8-year-old single grain & the Tyrconnell single malt range.

[@TheGrailTastings]

Thanks for the info! Very interesting!

[@WasserundMalz]

Love the Connemara for its very good price performance ratio. John Teeling has sold Cooley Distillery and founded Great Northern Distillery instead. I like peated irish whiskeys, for example Teelin Blackpitts and Waterrford Ballybannon (first whiskey with irish peat, other distillerys often import the peated barley from Islay).

[@TheGrailTastings]

We've been hearing a lot about this Teeling Blackpitts and think we need to give it a try!

[@WasserundMalz]

@@TheGrailTastings Absolutely!

[@jtf2dan]

Dung Beetles approve this video.

[@TheGrailTastings]

Glad to have them on side!😂

[@mimakake]

Subbed! while having a nip of Connemara. ;) I found it to have a lill bit of gingerbread after taste. Yummie.

[@TheGrailTastings]

Ohh we're gonna go back and look for the gingerbread! Thanks for tuning in :D!

[@davidmason4812]

Great video as always ladies 👍🥃

[@TheGrailTastings]

Thank you 😁

[@whompbiscuits8930]

Dunville's has a peated Irish whiskey, made by Echlinville Distillery. It's a blend though, not a single malt. But indeed there are few peated Irishes overall.

[@TheGrailTastings]

We'll need to seek them out! We did think there must be more about!

[@TeaLeafThief]

I'm Irish! Woohoo, but Scotch.. scotch is the best. Every peated Irish whiskey I have tried is just... Dissableedinpointing. I like non peated Irish whiskey, but I ADORE peated scotch! ALSO in Ireland we say "Slawn-cha"! Sláinte!!

[@TheGrailTastings]

Ah thanks for the pronunciation! Slightly different from how we pronounce it but possibly closer to how we are supposed to pronounce it!!

[@FreedsFirstTime_Whisky_Reviews]

THANK YOU! I've been saying that white pepper smells like cow poo for years!!

[@TheGrailTastings]

Yes! I've always thought so!

[@davieislay]

Dung may get a mention a week on Friday! 😂👊🥃❤️

[@TheGrailTastings]

😂 Looking forward to it!!!

[@younktsome2]

teeling tar pitts? or black pits? is a peated irish

[@TheGrailTastings]

Will look out for this one!

[@stevepagels2729]

Teeling, I do believe, as part of the deal took some of the best barrels of Cooley with him.

[@TheGrailTastings]

Ah....!

[@Soulvinum]

Good stuff. Ladies have you already tried Whislepig 10 year ?

[@TheGrailTastings]

Oh I think we have a while back, we probably need a reminder, will add it to the list!😁

[@Scriptadiaboly]

So cool, even it's hard for me to understand everything. But I love good 🥃

[@TheGrailTastings]

Great! Thanks for watching!

[@rott921]

Two Stacks is also peated, though a blend and from a bottler.

[@TheGrailTastings]

Ah thanks, will look this one up!

[@rott921]

Please do! I really enjoy the cask strength of their standard whiskey. Heard others are good too but not tried.

[@WatchricanPsycho]

The Best❤❤❤

[@69goldi]

Connoisseur of dung .. love it😁

[@TheGrailTastings]

🤢😂

[@drakefoster7006]

John Teeling did a talk at the Teeling tour I went to - didn’t know who he was until he pointed to a photo of the owners and talking about his sons. Very interesting guy. Also, I did notice you pronouncing sláinte different than I’d been hearing in Dublin. Which isn’t surprising- I’m in California and pronounce what a Texan would say as Howdy with more of a “Hello” sound 😊

[@TheGrailTastings]

Wow that's so cool! Its great when you get to hear all the info from the horses mouth!

[@Repubcreek]

Rachel must be channeling her inner weather presenter...they pretend there are maps behind them all the time.

[@TheGrailTastings]

Now if she can just fathom east from west she's found her calling!😂

[@GrantMcWilliams]

2:50 Connemara is the only Irish Peated Whiskey? Someone needs to tell the other 3! :-)

[@TheGrailTastings]

I think there are a few others now! We have not tried them yet.