Tipperary 2008 11 Years Single Cask Sherry/Rioja

This whisky comes from the RC103 cask, it spent more than 10 years in sherry casks before benefiting from a one year finish in Rioja casks from the Faustino bodega. As an aside, Rioja is a wine from the north of Spain made from a majority of Tempranillo, but also from black grenache, mazuelo and graciano. The red wines of the region are still aged in oak barrels, often American now, whereas in the past the barrels were made of French oak. Let's come back to our whisky, 10 years in sherry casks and 1 year in Rioja casks, brut de fût (57.35%), it's powerful ... with notes of cherries, sweet spices and a slightly peppery finish ... a must for lovers of whisky marked by sherry! Just over 300 bottles of this 11 year old have been released from the cask and 48 have been reserved for Belgium! 

NOSE: On the freshness of red berries, a little cinnamon, with all the finesse that an Irish can have. There's still a little youthfulness, but it's fairly well controlled. The opening is going to be on something more sherried, a bit liquorish. A mendicant blend, but also dry apricot, as it exists on sun-drenched red wines. A little more patience and it's ginger notes.

PALAIS: If it is generous, comfortably installed in these vinous, red fruit notes, there is also a beautiful power that is just waiting to be expressed. Fortunately, it is particularly well studied for this profile. Before the bitterness of the cinchona, there is a caress of dried fruits, apricots. On the second sip, all this is confirmed, but there is greater harmony, a better balance. Notes of chocolate will come more easily, almonds to stay with the idea. It's nice, it's a change from the Scotch, it also works with a slight dilution that will bring out the fruity side of this whiskey a bit more.