Unlock The Magic.
Awaken Your Senses.
A world-first, one-off project, allowing each of the five foundations of taste - Bitter, Sour, Salt, Umami and Sweet - to be experienced through five individually crafted and finished 23 year old Single Malt Irish whiskeys.
‘Senses’ by Egans and Liath
Limited Edition of 200 sets globally.
Each set contains:
Five x 700ml bottles of ultra-rare and specially created 23 Year Old Single Malt Irish Whiskeys (Bitter, Sour, Salt, Umami and Sweet)
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– A Sample Box, featuring five x 40ml tasting phials.
– A Collectors Case, designed to house the set.
– A series of beautifully produced cards chronicling the three-year whiskey development journey.
– A complementary table for two at Liath Restaurant as Grey’s guests, to experience a seven-course tasting menu, plus membership to Liath Restaurant’s concierge booking service ensuring ongoing access to Liath Restaurant.
Terms and conditions apply.
The Whiskey
Mission Statement:
Create a world-first collision of two Michelin-Starred gastronomy with ultra-premium Irish whiskey allowing a collector to individually experience each of the five foundations of taste:
Bitter, Sour, Salt, Umami and Sweet
The product has to be breathtaking, fundamental, almost disruptive and the application obsessive. Every aspect of the process must mean something, to someone, in the room.
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We knew we wanted a cask that held a wine or spirit produced and aged near the sea.
During our research, I found a price list from my great-grandfather which featured, amongst other things, the Cognacs Egan’s Bonders used to import including the oldest Cognac in the world, Godet (1588).
So I contacted Jean-Jacques Godet, re-introduced the Egans after a near 100 year hiatus and asked for the oldest ex-Grand Champagne cask in their warehouse.
No, he was not expecting that call.
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This was not straightforward.
We wanted both dark chocolate and coffee notes to gently gesture towards bitterness.
So I put a cask in the back of the car, drove it to Mayo in the West of Ireland, had it re-charred, filled it with a bespoke imperial stout brewed by Dot Brew, bottled the stout (Damien used some it to make stout bread) and filled the ex-stout cask with the Single Malt whiskey.
The result is breathtaking.
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We looked to Tuscany to deliver truffle, tagliata and Sangiovese notes.
Col d’Orcia produce stunning wines and Count Francesco Marone Cinzano was an absolute gent to deal with. They owed us nothing but delivered everything.
Note to self: a 200L barrel does not easily fit in the back of a Fiat 500 rental.
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We wanted citrus and mild smokey notes. An able-bodied Mezcal cask would do the heavy lifting.
We were introduced to a distiller in Oaxaca with an almost mythical reputation for producing spirits that others won’t. Mezcal is the world of yesteryear that whiskey can now just about remember.
The cask that arrived into Dublin had a few litres of the Agave spirit still washing around in it. You’ve never tasted anything like it.
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There are many, many ways to introduce sweetness to whiskey, so why did this one take us the longest to unlock?
We wanted chocolate but white chocolate, caramel but burnt caramel and apple pie but leaning more towards tarte Tatin. We cycled through twelve styles of dessert wines and settled on Madeira.
We identified our preferred Madeira producer and sampled half a dozen of their wines until we found the one we wanted. Then all that was required was to get in touch with this producer to encourage them to send that cask 2,500 km to Dublin.
The Collection
The contents of this Collector’s Case - and the case itself - represents years of work and a truly productive collaboration.
Senses, a project that has morphed into a labour of love, has gently taken over the lives of many people over several years.
We wanted the unboxing experience to feel like opening a box of delights. Anticipation. Every touch and feel of it speaks to the unique quality of the whiskey within.
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We wanted the unboxing experience to feel like opening a box of delights. Anticipation. Every touch and feel of it speaks to the unique quality of the whiskey within.
There’s a definite formula for super-premium whiskey packaging - varnished wood, faux gilt edging, mass-produced plinths - and we wanted the exact opposite.
We just love the box and everyone is utterly blown away by it. People stand back, smile and get a little giddy to see what’s inside. Job done.
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The bottle is unlike anything else in the world of whiskey. Its beauty and shape reference the scientific rigour required to unlock each of the five Senses.
The bottle starts its life in Normandy. It then goes to Crieff in Scotland.
The bottle then receives a vignette before each letter is hand applied with a waterslide. There’s no label. We wanted the bottle lettering to resemble braille.
It then comes to Ireland where it’s hand filled.
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Some owners of these whiskeys won’t ever open the bottles. They’re essentially art substitutes. Each to their own. We really want collectors to try the whiskeys, at least once.
The Collector’s Case includes a beautiful sample kit. This box and the enclosed phials again reference the scientific application demanded by the Mission Statement.
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Each bottle has a custom made wooden closure with a natural cork. We used a process called tampography to apply our specifically designed Senses pattern. The result is beautiful, balanced and practical with the most satisfying ‘pop’.
The phial closure is similar to that of the bottle but with a little less detailing. We wanted this design to speak to the main bottle but without mimicking it.
You’d be surprised how many ‘discussions’ were had regarding whether the bottle closure would be 12mm or 14mm high.
Meet the Makers
There is a creative tension in the idea of existing between two places.
Guests of Liath Restaurant embark on a ‘journey’ as the menu moves between the senses from Bitter to Sweet, through Sour, Salt and Umami. It also refers to an open space or a hollow between two objects. This is the essence of what makes whiskey, whiskey; the bonder tells a story co-written by liquid and wood. Magic that comes to life in the space between these two authors.
Mist transforms the landscape, merging ground and sky, creating a new space that fills this chasm with magic. In Hiberno-Irish tradition, ‘An Fear Liath‘ is the personification of this mist, the ‘Grey Man’ who covers the land and sea with his mantle.
Elsewhere in Irish mythology mist is associated with transformation. In the Irish legend, ‘The Children of Lir’, the children are transformed into swans and 900 years later they return to human form with a blanket of mist as their cover.
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Rupert Egan - the great, great
grandson of Henry Egan of the eponymous P & H Egan (estd. 1852) - now represents the 6th generation of whiskey bonders in his family.
Benefitting from a background in science, Rupert completed the Diploma in Distilling from the Institute of Brewing and Distilling in Scotland before joining his cousins - Jonathan and Maurice Egan - in the family business.
As Head Bonder for Egan’s Irish Whiskey, Rupert is responsible for all distillate purchases, wood policy, maturation management, blending and the operating of the Egan’s Single Cask programme.
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In 1852, Patrick and Henry Egan established P & H Egan, Ltd. in Tullamore,
County Offaly, located in the heart of Ireland. This spirited enterprise quickly became one of Ireland’s leading merchant houses, spanning a range of commercial endeavours that included whiskey bonding, malting, brewing, and bottling. Today, Rupert Egan, Henry’s great, great grandson, proudly carries on the family business of whiskey bonding, blending, and bottling for Egan’s Irish Whiskey.
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Damien Grey - Chef owner of the Two Star Michelin restaurant Liath - originates from Bowral, N.S.W, Australia. At 10 years of age, Damien started working in a butchers and then a fruit and veg shop. Aged 14, he became a kitchen porter and has been working in the industry ever since.
Damien went on to train in Sydney and spent 6 years cooking in some of the city’s finest restaurants before moving to the UK. He finally put down roots in Ireland.
Damien was awarded a Michelin Star in 2016 with Heron and Grey, his first restaurant, and retained this award until its closing in January 2019. In the same premises, Damien subsequently opened Liath Restaurant where he secured a first Michelin Star in 2019 to be followed
by a second Michelin Star in 2022.
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Launched in 2019 by Chef owner Damien Grey, Liath Restaurant in Blackrock, is a Two Michelin-Starred restaurant where he explores and challenges the preconceptions of the senses through eight seasonal menus that delve into the five building blocks of taste - Bitter, Sour, Salt, Umami and Sweet.
Holding two Michelin Stars since 2022, Liath Restaurant is at the forefront of Irish gastronomy.
