I was excited to see Malt Advocate’s John Hansell announce Cooley as their Distillery of the Year.  Though I’ve not tasted nearly enough, I’ve always loved Irish Whiskey (Red Breast 12 yr. Old being a huge favorite) and recently thought it was too bad that Ireland’s few distilleries were not making the same kind of creative & economic leaps forward that the Scotch, Bourbon and Japanese markets were making.  It looks like Cooley, Ireland’s only Irish-owned, independent distillery, is paving the way for Irish joining this surge, I’m excited to taste what’s out there and see what comes next.