Raglan Road 5 Year Old Irish Single Malt, cask strength 54.9% ABV, is another collaboration, aged in bourbon, matured in madeira, finished in imperial stout produced by Seamus McMahon’s Brehon Brewhouse. This fine craft brewery is situated in Killanny Monaghan, across the fields from poet Paddy Kavanagh’s Inniskeen homeplace. Kavanagh spent much of his life in Dublin, and was very well known around Ballsbridge and D4 in general, including the Beggars Bush (a Ryan establishment). Raglan Road seemed a fitting name for this town and country, Dublin and Monaghan, family to family, Ryan and McMahon, collaboration. An ambitious and technically difficult finish, we sent casks to Seamus in which he finished his stout, then retrieved them and filled the same day with our whiskey. We think we got it just right; judge for yourself. 3,500 bottles, numbered, and signed by Eunan Ryan.
Tasting Notes
COLOUR: Amber
NOSE: Homemade marmalade and the white toast it’s layered on. Candied orange peel, real orange peel, pound cake and panatone. Plain cookie. Cake mix and pith, and with water, orange petals on top of those peels.
PALATE: Honey nut cheerios. Bread crust. Bran biscuits, more orange peel, and thick gooey nougat. As with the nose, with water comes orange blossom water – and more cereals and citrus wax.
FINISH: Thick frosting, citrus pith, old-school orange sweets and pound cake again. Breadiness and citrus, together at last. Sultanas for a minute straight.
