FIRST SIP: Grace O'Malley: The Pirate Queen Blend

Grace O'Malley (Gráinne Mhaol in Irish) hails from the west coast of Ireland in County Mayo, where the legendary warrior and negotiator was born in 1530. The company sources its blend from a variety of double and triple distilled whiskeys that are aged in American bourbon, rum & French oak casks. In addition to the base blend we're reviewing here, there are also blends finished in a Dark Char Cask and a Rum Cask. The top of the line offering is an 18-year old single malt aged in bourbon barrels then finished in wet Cognac casks for six months. 

We had to hunt around to find a bottle of GOM, as it's not yet widely available in the U.S. Once we found it online, we discovered a solid blend backed by a good bit of Irish heritage. Notes of nuttiness, a touch of honey and a bit of vanilla are apparent, and while the flavors don't linger in your mouth as much as we'd like, this is a solid effort in the sub-$50 category. We very much look forward to trying the char and rum blends as well as the single malt once they hit American shores.

Grace O'Malley Blended Irish Whiskey: 90 POINTS