St Patrick's Day - March Whiskey of the Month, Sláinte!

St Patrick's Day being the 17th of March, I bought a bottle of the Second Edition of their Wonders of Wood series, a 50.0% Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey - Virgin Portuguese Oak from Dublin distillery Teeling, the first new distillery to open in Dublin for over 125 years in 2015 (website). As usual for Irish whiskey this was triple distilled, and created from 50% malted and 50% un-malted Irish Barley, then this edition aged in virgin Portuguese oak casks.

Portuguese oak, native to the Iberian Peninsula, "has a higher tannin content than other oak variants normally used in the Whiskey industry." Consequently bringing unique flavours when used for maturation. A nice deep golden colour, with a sweet, but spicy aroma, with hints of ginger and oak wood. To taste, less sweet than Irish whiskeys can be, but amazingly gentle considering the strength, with orange marmalade, apricot and vanilla to taste, finishing a little spicy, notably nutmeg, and a subtle woodiness too; I noted the alcohol goes down gently at the back of the mouth. A wee bit special for March Whiskey of the Month, nice one, sláinte! 👍💚

I've a wee bit left for tomorrow... 😉

Please note that, in "collaboration with the Tree Council of Ireland every release in the Wonders of Wood series will work towards the reforestation of a designated area of woodland in Ireland with exclusively native Irish trees. The first release allowed for an acre of native oak trees to be planted in the Glencree region of County Wicklow just outside of Dublin. The second release will allow for a second acre to be planted this time in County Dublin, again in partnership with the Tree Council of Ireland." A good cause indeed. 🌳🌳🌳

Clonakilty Whiskey...

Yes, yes, I know, I've already written about a whiskey this month (blog), but I was drinking in the Hastings Jolly Fisherman (blog) yesterday, and Oliver waved a not yet opened bottle in front of me, and tempted me to buy a glass of it. I'm easily tempted, no control! 😉 So there it was, distilled in County Cork by Clonakilty (website), their 46.0% Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey, I'll have some of that, thank you very much! 

Clonakilty is quite a new distillery, set up in 2019, and they use only barley grown in Co Cork, the whiskey is triple distilled in copper pot stills, and matured in ex-Bourbon, Oloroso and Amontillado casks. This produces an aroma strongly teasing me with vanilla and hints of citrus and butterscotch, and tasting gently of vanilla with a hint of pear, orange and butterscotch, smooth, but you know the alcohol is there whilst drinking and as it goes down, good stuff, sláinte!

May Whiskey of the Month

My May Whiskey of the Month, indeed my 10th Irish Whiskey of the Month in this series, is Green Spot, a 40.0% Single Pot Still Whiskey, meaning that both malted and unmalted barley is distilled in a pot still at just the one distillery. It is distilled at the Midleton Distillery near Cork (website), where many well known Irish Distillers (website) whiskeys come from, including Jameson, Redbreast and Tullamore D.E.W. Green Spot is distilled for the wine and spirit merchants Mitchell & Son of Dublin (website), who mature this whiskey for between 7 and 10 years in new and refill bourbon casks, and then in used sherry casks.

As expected for Irish whiskeys this was triple distilled, and is a deep golden colour, with hints of orchard fruits, vanilla, honey and cinnamon in the aroma. To taste, slightly spicy at first with the hints of vanilla still there, and a sherry fruitiness, finishing off with a slightly less smooth, but warm dryness, not my favourite Irish whiskey ever but still very nice, slainte! 👍💚

St Patrick's Day/March Whiskey of the Month!

Appropriate for March, and Paddy's Night on the 17th of March, I bought a bottle of Drumshanbo, a 43.0% Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey from the Shed Distillery in County Leitrim (website). As usual for Irish whiskey this was triple distilled, the Drumshanbo being distilled from malted and un-malted Irish Barley, and a small amount of Irish Barra Oats to add creaminess, then aged in only once used Kentucky Bourbon and Oloroso Sherry casks.

As you'd expect, a deep golden colour, with a big butterscotch flavour, cinnamon and black pepper spiciness, vanilla, Christmas Cake dried fruit, and toffee aroma. To taste, I still got the big butterscotch flavour with hints of creamy vanilla and sherry fruitiness, finishing off with a quite smooth, refreshing and gentle, and warm dryness, very nice, slainte! 👍💚

Oh yes, and it comes in a very strong cardboard presentation box with luxurious golden interior, a wee bit challenging to break down for the recycling sack, Happy St Patrick's Day! 😁