Connemara Turf Mór whiskey

redlead

Gentlemen,

My stock of peated whiskeys is running low and it's time to invest in another bottle. I was wondering if any of the whiskey drinking posters could offer me an unbiased view of Turf Mór which I have not tried but am thinking of purchasing. The reason I ask, is that it is quite pricey at €65 a bottle and at that price you can get a serious Islay. i.e. Lagavulin 16yo €63, Ardbeg 10yo €50 and Laphraoig 10yo and quarter casks both cheaper also.

The reason I say unbiased is purely because it is Irish and I often tend to be sligtly biased myself when commenting on them. I have bought a couple of bottles of the Connamara single malt peated whickey before and quite enjoyed them. A lovely whiskey but probably lacked the refinement of some Islays. In saying that, at €35 a bottle, it is arguably the best value whiskey I have ever bought.

Your thoughts ....

BeerNut

I don't know enough about Islays to compare, but I've been drinking Turf Mór next to Connemara Single Malt (£20 at Bristol airport - yoink!) for the past couple of months and they're very different beasts. Turf Mór is much slicker and heavier, and of course is smoke to the brim. Subtle and balanced it ain't, but I really enjoy it, albeit in very small doses.

Brockagh

Personally I'd prefer the Lagavulin 16 and Ardbeg 10 and Lagavulin, but Turf Mor is pretty good for such a young whiskey. It's only 3 years old, so it's quite expensive. It's cask strength, though.

Cooley do brilliant whiskey. Genuinely, I think they're up there with the best malts. Wait until they have more stocks of everything. If you could get a Connemara 16 with a bit of sherry maturation, I think it would be great. The cask strength Cooleys I've had have all been excellent.

adrian522

It's WAY over priced for a 3 Year old Whiskey.

I was at a tasting before this was launched and they were talking about a launch price of about €30 which I think would have been reasonable.

To be honest there are much better whiskeys out there for the price.

I guess it is aimed at the tourist market, especially with the tweedy Irish name.

Brockagh

It is expensive, but it is comparable with other young, small batch, cask strength releases from Scottish distilleries. Take Kilchoman and Bruichladdich, for example. And the Japanese Chichibu 7 month old is about 90 euro...

juvenal

I've had some recently and it was surprisingly pleasant. A drop of water really opened up the flavours and made it a lot more palatable, it's 58.2% after all. Perhaps a little pricey, but for someone who's not really into my peat, this was a very good dram.

johnnyskeleton

Tried it once and it was good, but not so good I'd buy it over laga 16.

However, as to whether you should buy it or not, I think you should. The reason being, if there is a whiskey that you want to try, you should try it. Maybe get a glass in l mulligans or the vat house before you buy.

LostinBlanch

Redbreast 12 year old for me. Miles better than Connemara IMO.

Or if you're going to be unpatriotic Bunnahabhainn.

redlead

LostinBlanch wrote: »

Redbreast 12 year old for me. Miles better than Connemara IMO.

Or if you're going to be unpatriotic Bunnahabhainn.

They are completely different whiskeys in fairness, you might as well say you prefer a gin to connamara.

It is very expensive for such a young whiskey though. I don't buy whiskeys in bars because the way they price them is a disgrace. €10 for a redbreast 12 for instance when a whole bottle is what, €42ish? (edit: €36 only) I think I'll get myself a laguvulin 16 with my Christmas money just to play it safe, might get a regular Connamara too :-)