Name: Green Spot
Distillery: Green Spot (Midleton)
Origin: Ireland
Age Statement: None
Type: Single Malt
Alc/Vol: 40%
As St. Patrick's Day winds down to a close, I raise my glass to the wonderful people of Ireland. Ireland holds a special place in my heart. As a Rugby player, I have always enjoyed watching the Irish rugby team play, especially my boyhood hero, Irish centre Brian O'Driscoll. Last November, I visited Dublin and also met a wonderful pair of newlyweds (then still engaged) Joey and Jenny Walsh, and had a wonderful chat with them. All in all, Ireland holds great memories for me as a person. Hence, as this wonderful nation celebrates the feast day of its most beloved of saints, I decided that I shall try a lesser known, but still very highly-regarded whiskey, Green Spot.
In the world of whisky, Ireland holds a proud place. It's claim to fame of course is that they were arguably the first country to legally start making whiskey in 1608 AD, as seen on the famous Bushmills bottles, and the Kilbeggan distillery is actually the oldest licenced distillery in the world being established in 1757. Irish whiskey is known for its sweetness, vanilla, nutty and light characteristics, and also for its consistency and quality as well. Commercially, it is the fastest growing spirits category in the world at this moment, making it a brand name that is well and truly worth watching out for.
The Green Spot Irish Whiskey is owned by the Midleton group of distillers, which also owns the Jameson, Redbreast and Powers brands of Irish whiskey. The other bigwigs in the Irish whiskey industry are of course Cooley's and Bushmills. The Green Spot whiskey differs from other Irish whiskies as it has a more sherried influence on it, and is actually a very sought after whiskey even within the category of Irish whiskey due to the fact that it is produced in limited numbers, but still with a very affordable price tag. But the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and this was certainly one of the most pleasant drams I have had the chance of tasting!
(Note: For this tasting, I decided to follow The Balvenie WhiskyAcademy's suggestion of adding more water into the whisky and waiting a while and take notes again. Hence my notes are a compilation of its characteristics both neat and also with water)
Nose: Very pleasant and rather complex. Rich and creamy with notes of vanilla, cinnamon, caramel and a pleasant nuttiness (raw not roasted). The sherry influence is also detected with a light hint of cocoa and that sherried richness. With water one gets more nuttiness and vanilla. (22)
Taste/Palate: The sherry influence is strong with dark cocoa and spiciness. The nuttiness and vanilla continue from the nose to the mouth, with a light fruity note of orange cough drops and pears. The sweetness of the fruit and vanilla come through even more with water. (22)
Finish: Honied and syrup sweet with the fruity note of pear (23)
Overall: A lovely Irish dram, one that even St. Patrick's would have been proud of. A refreshing whiskey fit for all times of the day! (23) 90/100
Found at: La Maison Du Whisky, The Auld Alliance
Good review but Green Spot is not a "single malt". It is what we call a "pure pot still" or "single pot still" Irish Whiskey. The pure pot still method is unique to Ireland and is highly rare these days as only two whiskey brands where on the market, Redbreast and Green Spot, until very recently Midleton Barry Crockett Legacy and Powers John's Lane Reserve 12-Year-Old are the two new additions. Green Spot as been relaunched recently with what many consider a better and longer finish to it.
ReplyDeleteThe Irish pure pot still method is the traditional Irish whiskey which uses both malted and un-malted barley in one pot still. It is finally making a come back after years of being very hard to come by.