The Whiskey Reviewer A World of Whiskey, Poured Every Weekday
By Richard Thomas
Blue Spot Single Pot Still Whiskey
(Credit: Randall H. Borkus)
St. Patrick’s Day 2022 is now about a month away, and the mix of pandemic fatigue and omicron still spiking hard means folks will both celebrate at home and out in bars. No matter, because the best way to celebrate Hibernian identity is still to hoist a dram of fine Irish whiskey, and one of the best ways to do that is by trying something new.
Here are five new Irish whiskeys that have come out in the recent past. The next month gives you plenty of time to hunt around and find a bottle to put on your shelf at home. If you go out and see one at the bar, be sure to order it.
Blue Spot Single Pot Still Whiskey: The story of The Spots starts with an old school Irish negociant, Mitchell & Sons. Back in the day, Mitchell & Sons bought single pot still whiskey from the Jameson Distillery on Bow Street and aged it themselves to produce in-house bottlings. Those casks were identified by daubing them with spots of colored paint, which eventually became a brand. The brand fell into decline along with the recent of the Irish whiskey industry, and until modern times the only distillery even making single pot still whiskey was the successor to the outfits making Jameson, Tullamore Dew, Powers and Paddy: New Midleton.
Irish Distillers, New Midleton’s owner, entered into a partnership with Mitchell & Sons over redeveloping the the Spots. This started with Green Spot and Yellow Spot, then came Red Spot, and now finally Blue Spot. It took 56 years to see Blue Spot come back, but here we are. It’s a 7 year old single pot still whiskey, aged in ex-Bourbon barrels, ex-Sherry butts, and ex-Portuguese Madiera casks, and bottled at cask strength. That, incidentally makes it the only one of the Spots bottled at cask strength. Enjoy!
Bushmills 12 Year Old Single Malt: This one is so new that it wasn’t even available in the American marketplace until this month (it’s been available in Europe for a few years), and it might not have reached your local shelves yet… but count on it being there before St. Patrick’s Day. This plugs the gap between the youngish Bushmills 10 Year Old single malt and the middle aged 16 year old single malt, and at a fairly reasonable price of about $60. It’s 12 years old minimum, plus a 6 to 9 month finishing spell in Marsala casks.
Dingle Single Malt
(Credit: Dingle Distillery)
Dingle Single Malt: Although the Dingle Distillery in western Ireland continues to release single malts in its Batch series, 2021 saw it introduce a regular release single malt as well. This is the one that is designed around a consistent flavor profile, not discrete, one-shot releases. The bottles are six to seven year old malt whiskey which has been aged in first-fill PX Sherry and bourbon casks.
Jameson Black Barrel Barrel Proof: Back in October, Irish Distillers decided to test the waters by launching a cask strength version of their popular Jameson Black Barrel just in Ireland. Black Barrel has long been a favorite of great whiskey bargain buy round-up articles (ours included), so this is quite a big deal. Yes, it’s not officially available in the US, but it has been brought over by special import. So, if you see it on a bar shelf, get a pour. Period.
Teeling 13 Year Old Single Grain: Another expression that The Whiskey Reviewer consistently calls attention to is Teeling’s Single Grain, because it’s both an excellent example of what single grain whiskey can be and is consistently overlooked. This one was aged for 9 years in ex-bourbon barrels, and then got a long, over four year term of secondary maturation in ex-Bordeaux wine casks. The whiskey is then bottled at a hefty 50% ABV. The whiskey is distributed a bit more widely than the aforementioned Black Barrel Barrel Proof — it’s in Europe and Asia — which means, again, if you see it in the US, it is a special import. Even so, it is priced at just €85 over there, which is quite reasonable all things considered. So, if you see it in the US, grab it.
