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23rd May 2017 |
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Irish
Distillers scoop more top awards for
their prestige range of Irish whiskey's
including gold medals for their new
Method and Madness whiskey range.
Irish Distillers outstanding range of
prestige Irish whiskey continues to
impress judges as it scoops another 10
top tasting awards. I am a huge fan of
the the whiskies the folks at Midleton
are turning out these days so it comes
as no surprise to me that they have
walked away from another 2 top spirits
competitions clutching a bag full of
gold medals and notably a couple of gold
medals for their Single Pot Still and
Single Malt whiskey in their new Method
and Madness range which again is no
surprise to me.
This time out they have been awarded a
total of 10 gold or above medals at the
San Francisco World Spirits Competition
and International Spirits Challenge
2017. Top honours were awarded to
Redbreast 15, Best Single Pot Still
Whiskey and Best Irish Whiskey, and
Midleton Very Rare, Best Blended Irish
Whiskey, at the prestigious San
Francisco World Spirits Competition.
In addition, Redbreast 12 Year Old Cask
Strength claimed its third Double Gold
medal in a row at the San Francisco
World Spirits Competition – a testament
to the consistency in quality of Single
Pot Still Irish Whiskey craftsmanship at
the Midleton Distillery. The array of
gold medals, around half of the 22
decorations awarded to Irish Distillers
across the two prestigious tastings,
cements Redbreast as the most awarded
Single Pot Still Whiskey in the world.
Yellow Spot 12 Year Old followed up a
near-perfect 99/100 points at the
Ultimate Spirits Challenge with a Gold
medal at the International Spirits
Challenge, whereas Midleton Barry
Crockett Legacy was honoured by the same
competition with the sixth Gold medal
since its release in 2011.
In total, the prestige range from Irish
Distillers secured four Double Gold and
six Gold medals across the San Francisco
World Spirits Competition (SFWSC) and
International Spirits Challenge (ISC).
The winners are listed below and you
will also find my reviews of a few of
them below:
-
Redbreast 15 Year Old:
Best Irish Whiskey, Best Pure Pot
Still Irish Whiskey and Double Gold
medal (SFWSC)
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Redbreast 12 Year Old Cask Strength:
Double Gold medal (SFWSC)
-
Midleton Very Rare:
Best Blended Irish Whiskey and
Double Gold medal (SFWSC)
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METHOD AND MADNESS Single Pot Still
Irish Whiskey Finished in Chestnut:
Double Gold medal (SFWSC)
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Midleton Dair Ghaelach:
Gold medal (SFWSC)
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Redbreast 21 Year Old:
Gold medals (SFWSC and ISC)
-
METHOD AND MADNESS Single Malt Irish
Whiskey Enhanced with French
Limousin Oak:
Gold medal (SFWSC)
-
Yellow Spot:
Gold medal (ISC)
-
Midleton Barry Crockett Legacy:
Gold medal (ISC)
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
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Redbreast 12 Cask Strength Review
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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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Method and Madness Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey Review
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Non chill-filtered, natural colour and
bottled at 46% ABV.
William
Morrison's Tasting Notes:
Nose:
A lovely enticingly rich nose. Sweet
vanilla fudge, raisins, red berries, and
just the very slightest hint of pot
still spice.
Taste:
Delicious mouth coating pot still spices
between layers of sweet fruit. Some
orangey notes, raisins, ripe pears,
cinnamon, some drying wood spice and
just a touch of bitter sweet dark
chocolate keeping the fruit in check.
Finish: Long, bourbony liquorice,
a delicious mix of pot still and
sherried fruit slowly fades leaving some
lovely lingering and mildly drying oak
spice or may that be chestnut spice.
Comment:
A deliciously rich mix of pot still and
sherried fruit with a nice touch of
interesting wood spice thrown in. You
can tell that this is a single pot still
whiskey but with a bit of a different
wood twist which really lingers long
into the finish. An outstanding single
pot still with a very interesting and
enjoyable twist, great stuff from the
folks at Midleton. I hate to say it but
some of the big players in Scotland
could learn a thing or two from the
innovative and creative, or should I say
methodically mad, folks at Midleton and
the whiskey they are producing for our
pleasure.
SMW Singe Pot
Still Whiskey Score
93/100
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Redbreast 21 Year Old Review
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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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Method and Madness Single Malt Irish Whiskey Review
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Distilled at Bushmills in 2002, mature
at Midleton.
Non chill-filtered, natural colour and
bottled at 46% ABV.
William
Morrison's Tasting Notes:
Nose:
Sweet, malty, a mix of apricot and
gooseberry, just a hint of spice.
Taste:
Creamy vanilla toffee with a just a
touch of bitterness which stops the
sweet barley sugars running the show, a
little cinnamon and the apricot and
gooseberry fruit notes from the nose.
Finish: A medium to long finish
with a barley sugar sweetness which
fades to leave a rather drying woody end
to the fun.
Comment:
This may have been distilled in
Bushmills but it is unlike any Bushmills
you may have experienced, it has
certainly been subjected to Midleton's
Method and Madness and is a very
interesting and very enjoyable triple
distilled Irish single malt whiskey.
Putting the 31 year old single grain to
one side, between the Method and Madness
single grain, single pot still and this
single malt, this was my pick from when
I attended the launch of the new
whiskeys in Dublin but after tasting all
the whiskeys a few times now with a
fresh palate I am more impressed with
the single pot still.
Considering what few whiskeys that are
released from Bushmills this is a
welcome addition for whiskey fans
wanting to explore something different
from the north coast of Ireland
distillery.
With an RRP of €79 it is certainly worth
a try for any Irish whiskey fan.
SMW Score
88/100
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Midleton Barry Crockett Legacy Tasting Notes
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Midleton Barry Crockett Legacy has no
age statement but is made up of whiskey
aged between 10 - 22 years, it was
bottled at 46% ABV and non chill
filtered.
William
Morrison's Tasting Notes:
Nose: Sweet vanilla, toffee,
coconut, lemon and lime, fresh pear.
Taste:
Medium bodied, coffee, peppery, orange
and lime, pear drops, vanilla, nutmeg
and more citrus fruit. A touch of dry
oak.
Finish:
Smooth, fruity sweetness, nutty, oaky
finish.
Comment:
Plenty of sweetness, vanilla and fruit,
a lovely smooth single pot still
whiskey.
SMW Score 93 /100
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specialist Whisky shops who delivers to
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