Cooley's most special creation?

[mawhinney]

A friend suggests that Cooley's most special - original - individual - creation within the theatre of Irish whiskey has been/is the Greenore range of grain whiskeys. Especially the eight-year old. Comments invited.

[Luke Gough]

A friend suggests that Cooley's most special - original - individual - creation within the theatre of Irish whiskey has been/is the Greenore range of grain whiskeys. Especially the eight-year old. Comments invited.

Agreed!

The quality of Cooley's grain whiskey is outstanding.

[Distiller]

What?? How is Grain whiskey original? Everyone has grain whiskey they just ruin it with a crap blend. Don't get me wrong, I like Greenore. I was in the village yesterday in fact. On a sunny day it is a lovely place and a very nice whiskey.

But I have two words...

Bog Oak.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Yea, not so sure it is as special as it is made out to be, nice yes but special, not so sure. The cost of the barrel is probably more expensive than the contents and a good barrel may only add a Euro or 2 to the price. So your paying significantly more for a cheap(but good may I add) single grain whiskey than a blend which may well have more "expensive" malt or Pot Still in it. For 35euro I can think of better whiskey. It's either madness or genius .

Nice whiskey but the older expressions are "all marketing" and the price is exorbitant (all in my opinion of course ).
I put everything into context when I evaluate a whiskey that includes the price so for me that is a major knock down.

[Fionnán]

Yeah, greenore's a nice whiskey but Cooley didnt exactly invent the notion of grain whiskey bottlings... personally, i thought the most innovative thing about cooley wasnt any one particular bottle but the way they ran and thought about themselves as a distillery. The presentation of themselves as a multi-label multi-style operation with a lot of flexibility for experimentation etc was far more 'original' in comparison to the standard model than the simple release of a single grain. thats just my opinion though

[Good Whiskey Hunting]

Yeah, greenore's a nice whiskey but Cooley didnt exactly invent the notion of grain whiskey bottlings... personally, i thought the most innovative thing about cooley wasnt any one particular bottle but the way they ran and thought about themselves as a distillery. The presentation of themselves as a multi-label multi-style operation with a lot of flexibility for experimentation etc was far more 'original' in comparison to the standard model than the simple release of a single grain. thats just my opinion though

Well put. I love the Greenore too but Cooley's most special creation is their R&D department, or at least it was.
Hopefully the creator of Bog Oak will come up with some more creations in future.

[mawhinney]

Yeah, greenore's a nice whiskey but Cooley didnt exactly invent the notion of grain whiskey bottlings... personally, i thought the most innovative thing about cooley wasnt any one particular bottle but the way they ran and thought about themselves as a distillery. The presentation of themselves as a multi-label multi-style operation with a lot of flexibility for experimentation etc was far more 'original' in comparison to the standard model than the simple release of a single grain. thats just my opinion though

Well put. I love the Greenore too but Cooley's most special creation is their R&D department, or at least it was.
Hopefully the creator of Bog Oak will come up with some more creations in future.

Ah yes, but I was talking about "special creation" in terms of the drop in the glass, not the undoubted corporate qualities of the Cooley distillery in terms of innovation, experimentation, organisation,etc. Consider solely the drop in the glass, separate from matters of cost and so on. This is a grain whiskey as opposed to a grain whisky; I cannot recall another Irish grain whiskey. It is a special creation: logicians now demand an answer to the question "Is it Cooley's most special creation?"

[Good Whiskey Hunting]

Yes I think it is. It not just exceptional in Irish terms but in world whiskey terms too.

[Joel1802]

Brining an Irish single grain to market was something special, but at the end of the day I'd have to say flashing up Kilbeggan is the biggest for me as I tend to dwell on lost distilleries. That being said peat was a bold move too -- and a damn tasty one, but I'll stick with Kilbeggan.

[Fionnán]

if we're solely talking about the drop, in my books bringing grain whiskey into the irish scene still wouldnt top their bringing back peated concoctions like connemara and its many incarnations. They didnt simply replicate islay and they've doe a lot of things that islay dont do, whereas greenore, however delicious it may be, is not 'technically' too far off the beaten track for fine grain whiskey. aged single grain whiskey bottlings have been in scotch since at least 1906 and the days of Cambus and if innovation means bringing ideas over from scotland, they also did that with the likes of inishowen peated blend. That being said, greenore really is a fine single grain whisky and was a bold step for them to take but i'd still have to agree with alex that the bog oak connemara would be a much more 'innovative' and 'special' project. again, just my opinion and i'm glad to see that greenore's still around. (actually, while we're on the subject, any word on Beam's intentions for the future for greenore?)

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

I would have to say labeling all their early malt as pot still

[Joel1802]

I would have to say labeling all their early malt as pot still

That was creative, but not so special.

[mawhinney]

The discussion so far has prompted the thought that this thread has the potential to evolve into a wider experience.
Why not try out the well-loved finale ritual of the IWS tastings where we vote on the whiskeys (of the night) that we like, and then vote on our favourite? And so with the Cooley family: nominate the 5 (say) whiskeys that you like and then the one that is your favourite. This exercise could well be the first online whiskey tasting ever! But then probably not. Who will start the process?
PS You may noticed I have moved from being a creationist to being an evolutionist.