McConnell's 5 Year Blended Irish Whiskey, Belfast, Ireland 750ml

A fine blend of Irish Malt and Irish Grain Whisky, aged for 5 years, gently rested in select Bourbon casks which bring out beautiful undertones of vanilla sweetness, ripe fruits, butterscotch and pepper spice.

It all started in 1776, when the McConnell family of Belfast began selling their whisky to the public. It quickly became one of the most sought-after spirits in Ireland, and the McConnells built a sprawling distillery to keep up with demand. The next 154 years would be spent dedicated to a single pursuit: producing the finest whisky in all of Ireland.

After more than a century atop the Irish whisky world, disaster struck. On April 20th of 1909, a terrible fire consumed the distillery. More than 500,000 gallons of McConnell’s whisky went up in flames that fateful day.

Undaunted, they began to rebuild. Before long the distillery was back to full strength, and McConnell’s reclaimed its place as one of the top whiskies in the world.

Then, another calamity, something even more dangerous for a whisky maker than fire: Prohibition, which outlawed the sale of liquor in America. In the blink of an eye, the biggest international market for Irish whisky was gone. More than 90 percent of Irish whiskies disappeared as a result – McConnell’s among them.

In the decades that followed, McConnell’s lived on only as a memory, a legendary whisky from another time. Reborn now after 90 years for a new generation of whisky enthusiasts, it is, quite possibly, the greatest comeback in the history of whisky. Take one sip and you’ll know: some things are worth the wait.