There is a certain poetry in Irish whiskey, and then there is something stranger and rarer still—a whiskey that carries with it an accident, a trace, a ghost. Minneapolis-based Keeper’s Heart has announced the release of its 32-Year-Old Irish Single Malt, a single-barrel expression distilled at Cooley Distillery in County Louth. It arrives with the kind of improbable detail that makes whiskey drinkers lean in closer: a wisp of peat smoke, not from recipe or design, but from the memory of a still.
A Whiskey Born of Ghost Smoke
The barrel was selected in 2020 by Keeper’s Heart master distiller Brian Nation, formerly of Midleton, whose career has been a long dialogue with tradition and experiment. The whiskey itself was distilled more than three decades ago at Cooley, where, Nation explains, the pot stills once ran peated spirit and were never fully scrubbed. That “never fully cleaned” copper, carrying the faintest traces of smoke, imparted a subtle, spectral peat character into a malt that was otherwise unpeated.
“The pot stills had once been used for peated whiskey and were never fully cleaned,” Nation said. “That faint wisp of smoke became a beautiful and unexpected part of this whiskey’s identity.” It is the kind of story that seems too neat to be true, except that whiskey has always trafficked in chance, accident, and mystery.
The Keeper’s Heart 32-Year-Old Experience
Bottled at 54.9% ABV, the whiskey is priced at $2,500 and available only in tightly limited channels: the O’Shaughnessy Distilling Co. merch store in Minneapolis, a direct-to-consumer allocation, and a few select private retail partners.
In the glass, it is as complex and mercurial as its origin story. The nose carries a veil of smoke so thin it seems imagined, curling around notes of canned mandarin orange, passion fruit, vanilla, and honeysuckle. The palate turns tropical—mango, lychee, and pineapple in play with spiced orchard fruit and toasted oak. It finishes long, weaving sweetness with a fading trace of that spectral smoke, a reminder of where the whiskey began.
Legacy and Rarity
For Keeper’s Heart, founded only in 2021, the 32-Year-Old represents both ambition and inheritance. “Every whiskey we release tells a story – but this one is a legend,” said co-founder Patrick O’Shaughnessy. “It’s a tribute to the roots we honour and the rare moments we create.”
The company, already known for blending Irish and American traditions, has placed this release in the uppermost echelon of collectable Irish single malts. With only one barrel in existence, the whiskey is, by definition, irreplaceable—a piece of Irish distilling history rescued from obscurity and reintroduced under the Keeper’s Heart banner.
A Collector’s Expression
The Keeper’s Heart 32-Year-Old Irish Single Malt joins a growing movement to reframe Irish whiskey not just as approachable and easy-drinking, but as capable of producing singular, world-class luxury expressions. With its accidental peat signature and its rarity, the release offers drinkers not just a spirit but a story—one that lingers like smoke.
For more information, head over to the brand’s official website.
