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3rd April 2017 |
Yellow Spot
Single Pot Still whiskey stands out from
the crowd at the Ultimate Spirits
Challenge 2017 competition.
 I am a huge fan of the Irish Single Pot
Still whiskey so it comes as no surprise
to me to hear that Irish Distillers and
their outstanding range of Midleton
Distillery produced Single Pot Still
whiskeys have once again impressed the
judges at the Ultimate Spirits
Challenge, one of the leading US based
spirits competitions where each whiskey
is evaluated blind by judging panels in
multi-stages assessments to remove any
inherent or individual bias.
Standing out from the crowd at this
years competition was Yellow Spot Single
Pot Still Irish Whiskey which was
awarded an almost perfect score 99/100.
Yellow Spot was recognised by the judges
for its quintessential single pot still
character and this is the highest
scoring Irish whiskey in any category
since Redbreast 21 year old was awarded
100 points in 2014.
Incredibly eight out of the nine Irish
Pot Single Pot Still whiskeys entered
into this years competition by Irish
Distillers were awarded scores of 95/100
or above demonstrating the unrivalled
quality and craftsmanship of the
whiskeys from the Midleton Distillery.
For the Ultimate Spirits Challenge scores for all nine whiskeys from
the Redbreast, Spot and Powers ranges
see below and you will also find my
review of a few of them below also:
- Yellow Spot 12 Year Old
(Chairman's Trophy) – 99/100
- Redbreast 15 Year Old – 98/100
- Redbreast 12 Year Old Cask
Strength 12 Years Old – 97/100
- Redbreast Lustau Edition –
97/100
- Redbreast 21 Year Old – 97/100
- Green Spot Chateau Leoville
Barton – 96/100
- Powers John’s Lane Release 12
Year Old – 95/100
- Redbreast 12 Year Old – 95/100
- Green Spot – 89/10
The Ultimate Spirits Challenge
signals the start of the awards season
and I predict 2017 will be a extremely
good year for the booming Irish whiskey
category and I would also predict that
the new
Method and Madness whiskey range
from the Midleton distillery will be
picking up an award or two in the coming
months.
You will find all the award winning
whiskeys available from
specialist online whisky retailers such
as
Master of
Malt
|
Redbreast 12 Cask Strength Review
|
William
Morrison's Tasting Notes:
Nose: Lovely rich sherried notes,
the fruit just hits you, red apples,
raisins, coconut ice, sweet vanilla
fudge. Some fresh oak spice.
Taste:
Full bodied, layers of rich fruit and
spice, oatcake biscuits, dark chocolate,
delicious sweet vanilla and dry oak.
Finish:
A long finish. Slowly drying oak, fading
fruit and spice and a touch of vanilla
fudge hanging around right to the end.
Comment:
Wonderful sherry and spices, you just
want to pour yourself another. The
balance of rich fruit, spice and oak is
perfect. Interestingly adding a drop of
water doesn't turn it into a standard
Redbreast 12 (I tried), it keeps its big
rich sherried fruit, spice and vanilla
character, I guess this is to do with
the number of casks in the batch being
much smaller than the number going into
a standard Redbreast 12.
An absolute cracker, loved it!!!
SMW Score 96 /100
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Powers John's Lane Release Review
|
Powers John's Lane 12 year old was
bottled at 46% ABV and non chill
filtered.
William
Morrison's Tasting Notes:
Nose: New leather, flowery, dark
chocolate, coffee, touch of citrus.
Taste:
Full bodied in the mouth, oily. Delicate
bitter sweet, dried fruits, honey,
toffee, coconut and spicy. Oaky.
Finish:
Honey, spice, chocolate and a drying
oakiness.
Comment:
This is undoubtedly still related to the other
members of the Powers family but this is
definitely a delicious big oily woody
Irish Single Pot Still whiskey.
SMW Score 95 /100
|
Redbreast 21 Year Old Review
|
William
Morrison's Tasting Notes:
Nose:
Packed with that unique Irish pot still
fruitiness with just a touch of sherry
fruitiness in there also. The fruit
makes way for vanilla and mild pot still
spices.
Taste:
Soft creamy vanilla, juicy barley, a
lovely Demerara sweetness, layers of
rich fruit, touch of nuttiness. The
delicious mild pot still spices increase
with each mouthful, menthol at the end.
Finish:
Long. Dark chocolate, raisin and
pineapple, mildly drying oak and slowly
fading pot still spices.
Comment:
As I hoped a 46%, non chill-filtered Irish
pot still whiskey of this age would be,
brilliant from nose to finish. The
balance of fruit, spice and oak is
perfect. It is unbelievable to think
Redbreast pot still whiskey almost
disappeared, I could only have dreamt of
a Redbreast 21 year old a few years ago.
A must try for Irish pot still whiskey
drinkers, a deliciously juicy mature
Irish single pot still whiskey.
SMW Score
93/100
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Redbreast Lustau Edition Review
|
William
Morrison's Tasting Notes:
Nose: An enticing sweet almost
candied sherried fruitiness mingles with
a little sweet vanilla and coconut and a
little oak spice.
Taste: A deliciously rich and creamy smooth mouthfeel,
vanilla, juicy barley and a lovely
light Demerara sweetness balance perfectly
with the delicious sherried rich fruit -
raisins, a little orange, lemon, pear
drops. Pot still spices add to the
pleasure and become more apparent with each mouthful.
Finish: A lovely very long
finish, the rich sherried fruit slowly
fades leaving mildly drying oak and
slowly fading pot still spices.
Comment:
Can you imagine the Redbreast 12 year
old finished for 1 year in a quality
Oloroso sherry butt, this is it, well
perhaps a little younger than 12 years
old but the result is a delicious
balance of sherry and Irish pot still
spices. The sherry finish enhances the
delicious sherry dimension of this
superb Irish pot still whiskey and I am
certain that this will be very popular.
A brilliant addition to the Redbreast
core range.
SMW Score
91/100
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Redbreast 12 Year Old Review
|
Redbreast is aged 12 years and
bottled at 40% ABV.
William
Morrison's Tasting Notes:
Nose: Oak, vanilla, sweet ripe
fruits.
Taste:
Spices and sherry simply dance around
the mouth, creamy, coconut.
Finish:
Deliciously long, rich fruit, sweet
vanilla, oily, spicy.
Comment:
This is a classic, absolutely delicious
and in my opinion the best buy Irish
whiskey available. This is single pot
still whiskey!!!
SMW Score
90/100
|
Green Spot Review
|
Green Spot has no
age statement but is made up of whiskey
aged between 7 - 10 years, it was
bottled at 40% ABV.
William
Morrison's Tasting Notes:
Nose: Sweet, fresh green fruit,
honey and menthol, oak spice.
Taste:
Full bodied, sweet honey, rich, a
touch of menthol and a wee bit of spice
coming in at the end.
Finish:
Long, ginger, bit of sherry, sweet,
spicy and dry.
Comment:
If you are after a less sherry
influenced single pot still whiskey then
this is the one for you.
SMW Whisky Score
91/100
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Where To Buy Whisky Online
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specialist Whisky shops who delivers to
you:
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