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Yet Another Irish Whiskey Arrives On American Shores

Much like the Irish immigrants of old, today there seems to be a wave of new Irish whiskey expressions coming to America. The latest of these comes from The Chapel Gate Irish Whiskey Co., said to bethe  first modern Irish whiskey bonder (more on that in a moment). It is called J.J. Corry, ‘The Gael.’

J.J. Corry, ‘The Gael,’ according to those behind it, is an interesting Irish blended whiskey mix that includes 5% 26-year-old single malt, 27.5% 11-year-old single malt, 27.5% 15-year-old single malt, and 40% 7-year-old single grain whiskey. It is bottled at 46% ABV and is both non-chill filtered and of natural color.

image via The Chapel Gate Irish Whiskey Co.

The company which has put this expression together was started by one Louise McGuane in 2015 and is said to be the only all-woman Irish whiskey company in existence. McGuane reportedly “has resurrected the lost art of Irish whiskey bonding,” which is noted for being

The practice of sourcing whiskey from third party distilleries, maturing it onsite until it is ready and then finishing or blending to create a unique stand-alone Whiskey. Bonding was a once common way of producing whiskey in Ireland and bonders were often publicans and grocers in local towns creating whiskey for their local clientele. The practice died out in the early 20th Century when the Irish Whiskey Industry collapsed. Instead of selling to Bonders, the few remaining distilleries in Ireland then chose to control their route to market and cut off supply to the Bonders.

As the company waits for their own Irish whiskey casks to come of age on the McGuane Family farm, they have sourced mature liquid from existing stocks in Ireland and plan a range of bottlings. ‘The Gael,’ named after a bicycle that whiskey Bonder J.J. Corry invented in the 1890s, is a limited run of 7,500 bottles, each pricing around $75.

“Bonding Irish Whiskey was a lost art and business model which we have brought back to life,” said McGuane in a prepared statement. “We are the first whiskey Bonder with in Ireland in 50 years and are proud to have brought this way of making Irish Whiskey back. Our first release, The Gael, has been greeted with great acclaim winning a Gold Medal in the Irish Whiskey Awards along with a medal in the World Whisky Awards.”

Very limited official tasting notes for this whiskey suggest “full white stone fruit flavours, notes of lime with a hint of pink peppercorns and a dried grapefruit and apple finish.”

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