Pearse Founder’s Choice 12 Year Old Irish Whiskey Review
By Richard Thomas
Rating: B+
12 Year Old Single Malt
(Credit: Alltech)
The only whiskey in the new Pearse line from Ireland to bear an age statement is Founder’s Choice, a 12 year old single malt. Alltech’s distilling operations in Ireland predate the opening of its Dublin distillery last year, but they still don’t have anything made in-house that is anywhere near that old. Thus, it’s a sourced whiskey, bottled at 42% ABV.
The story of Alltech in Ireland begins several years ago when Alltech acquired Carlow County Brewing and turned it into a “brewstillery” (joint brewery/distillery). The move mirrored what the company was doing in Lexington, Kentucky in building Town Branch Distillery on the same property as the existing brewery.
Unlike the Lexington plant, the Carlow brewstillery was soon split up, with Alltech moving the distillery to a historic, defunct church in Dublin. Unfortunately, those words “church” and “historic” mean nothing but headaches when it comes to renovations, so the project proceeded slowly. My favorite story about this time is how none of the doors were large enough to admit most distilling equipment, and knocking the doorways or a wall down was out of the question. A solution was finally had when it was “discovered” that the roof need work, and the distilling equipment was lowered through the resulting opening.
The Whiskey
Founder’s Choice has the expected look of a mature single malt, namely that of white wine. The nose is like a stew of canned apples, peaches and pears with minty herbs, very much like a can of fruit cocktail with a mint tea bag thrown in.
The whiskey’s flavor goes on in that canned, syrupy fruit cocktail vein, now with creme brulee added in for good measure, plus notes of pipe tobacco and toasted oak. The finish follows through on the creme brulee, fading down to a faint trace of oakiness. This is the first whiskey in the Pearse series with a substantial finish, one that has some heft and lasts a decent amount of time.
The Price
Founder’s Choice retails for $59.99.
