The 10-year old Craoi Na Mona single malt is something a bit different. It’s an Irish whiskey, distilled at the Cooley Distillery in the north-east the country and bottled by the British spirit merchants Berry Bros. & Rudd.
Like many Irish whiskeys, it has been double-matured in American Oak casks but it is at the end of this process when things get interesting. After a decade of maturation, this single malt is shipped to Scotland where it spends around five months in heavily-peated casks which previously held Laphroaig.
This explains the name of this whiskey Craoi Na Mona is Irish Gaelic for ‘heart of peat’. The Islay peat flavour definitely permeates throughout but rather than overpower it adds to a complex and flavorsome whisky which is best drank neat or with the tiniest splash of water. This single malt is as welcome at the tail-end of a long, hot day as it is on a wet winter afternoon.