Bruichladdich Celtic Nations

Celtic Nations is a 2006 collaboration between Bruichladdich on Islay and Cooley in Co. Louth, a vatting of Scottish and Irish malt that briefly united two independent minded distilleries on either side of the North Channel. Released as a blended malt in a run of 7,200 bottles, it is a genuine curiosity, whisky and whiskey married in one glass and never repeated in this form.

Ex-bourbon casks provide the common ground, keeping the focus on the two spirits: fragrant, floral Islay malt from Bruichladdich alongside the fuller, fruitier character of Cooley's double distilled Irish malt. Bottled at 46%, it reads as neither Scotch nor Irish alone but a coastal conversation between the two, and surviving bottles are collected as a snapshot of the mid 2000s independent scene.