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30th November 2018 |
Irish
Distillers bring the rich and spicy Red
Spot 15 year old back to life.
 Irish
Distillers has added a 15 year old
expression to their single pot still
"Spot" range, the Red Spot 15 Year Old
whiskey is not exactly a new expression
but it hasn't been seen since the
1960's.
Crafted from an old recipe handed down
by the Mitchell & Son family of wine
merchants, the creators of the original
Spot Whiskeys range in the early 1900's
which Irish Distillers brought back to
life in 2012. The reimagined Red Spot is
a triple-distilled, single pot still
Irish whiskey that has been matured for
a minimum of 15 years in a combination
of casks pre-seasoned with Bourbon,
Oloroso Sherry and Marsala fortified
wine.
Irish Distillers tell me that to create
Red Spot Marsala fortified wine casks
were procured from Sicily in the early
2000s and then, in 2004, were filled
with a five-year-old Bourbon matured
single pot still Irish whiskey. The
subtle contribution from the tight grain
of the American oak was the ideal base
for the heavy spice and ripe fruit
flavours imparted through maturation in
Marsala wine casks, which has been
carefully blended with ex-Bourbon and
ex-Sherry whiskeys to achieve the
perfect balance of flavour.
The Red Spot name was derived from the
Mitchell’s practice of marking their
maturing casks of whiskey with a daub of
coloured paint to determine the age
potential of the whiskey; with a Blue,
Green, Yellow or Red Spot indicating 7,
10, 12 or 15 years respectively. Now
that we have the Red Spot 15 year old it
now only remains for Irish Distillers to
bring the Blue Spot 7 year old back to
life, will such a young single pot still
whiskey be of the same quality standard
that has been set by the rest of the
range? I am not sure, but would be very
interested to find out.
Bottled at 46% ABV and non
chill-filtered, Red Spot 15 year old will be
re-introduced and available from this
month at the RRP of €115/£102/US $130 in Ireland and
from January 2019 in the USA, UK, France
and Global Travel Retail and will be available from specialist online whisky
retailers such as
The Whisky Exchange,
The Whisky Shop and
Master of Malt
William
Morrison's Tasting Notes:
Nose: An enticingly complex rich
mix of pot still spices, apricots and
sultanas with a slight candied edge as
well as a little earthiness and some
sweet toasted oak.
Taste:
A delicious sweet Marsala wine
fruitiness leads with apricot, raisin
and a hint of orange, this is dusted
with pepper. A little honey & vanilla
mix and the pot still spices add to the
pleasure and become more apparent with
each mouthful.
Finish:
Long, the fruit that led on the palate
bows out to let the delicious lingering
pot still spice and toasted oak have the
final say.
Comment:
This is one that grew on me, after a few
drams it has won me over, the Marsala
wine fruitiness is in charge at first
but after a few mouthfuls the pot still
spices and the oak show they are more
than equal to the fruit. Deliciously
rich and complex and if you are able to
get hold of this where you are, I am
sure you wont be disappointed to find
this rich Marsala wine influenced, spicy
Irish single pot still in you Christmas
stocking.
SMW Score
91/100
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