Review: Egan’s Single Malt Irish Whiskey Legacy Reserve Volume II 16 Years Old
The Egan’s Irish Whiskey line got its first luxe bottling with Legacy Reserve in early 2019. Now Legacy Reserve is back with a new incarnation, Legacy Reserve Volume II, and it’s a full year older. That extra year includes some finishing in an unusual type of barrel: Banyuls wine.
Details? Here ya go:
Legacy Reserve II is a rare single malt aged for 16 years in American bourbon barrels, and carefully hand-selected by the Egan family. This new expression has been finished in Banyuls casks made from old vines on the slopes of the Catalan Pyrenees in France…. Like its predecessor, Legacy Reserve II is limited to only 1,000 bottles worldwide, offering a unique opportunity for connoisseurs to add to their collection.
1000 bottles worldwide isn’t much, so I wish you luck in your hunt. Should you encounter one on your whiskey journey, here’s what to expect:
On the nose, the whiskey is loaded with Irish essentials: Brightly sweet cereal, nougat, honey, and a clear brown sugar note. If you’re just looking for a beautifully sweet expression of Irish whiskey, you’ve got it here, at least to start. Then things take a shift: Tuck into the palate and an impossibly sunny cereal note strikes the tongue first, followed quickly by a significant note of dark fruit — cassis and blackberry — and a substantial level of spice rarely seen in Irish. This is definitely the doing of the Banyuls, which brings a certain level of red wine tannin to the experience, which tempers the sweetness considerably. The finish sees hints of lemon, graham cracker, and milk chocolate, all standing in for mignardises, wrapping up a delightful little main course to send you home on a high note.
Highly recommended.
92 proof.
A / $200
Egan's Single Malt Irish Whiskey Legacy Reserve Volume II 16 Years Old
$200
