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17th January 2022 |
Samuel
Gelston's Irish Whiskey brand has been
resurrected and now offers an innovative range
of Irish single malt and single pot
still whiskey's as well as the entry level
Samuel Gelston's Blended Irish Whiskey
which I am reviewing here.
 You
may have already spotted Samuel
Gelston's Irish Whiskey appearing on
supermarket shelves and in
Online Whisky Shops
and you may be forgiven for not
recognising the whiskey brand, although
technically not a new brand it hasn't
been seen in some time.
Gelston's Old Irish Whiskey was founded
in 1830 by Samuel Gelston, a wine and
whiskey merchant from Belfast. Upon
Samuel's death in late 1869 Henry
(Harry) James Neill purchased the
business and developed the scale of the
business considerably in Ireland and in
overseas markets.
Although Samuel Gelston's whiskey
stopped being bottled quite some time
ago the brand itself remained in the
Neill family for five generations and it
has now been resurrected by Harry
Neill's, great, great grandson, Johnny
Neill, who has followed in Harry's
footsteps to create a six-strong line-up
of blended, single malt and pot still
Irish whiskeys including cask finishes
and aged single malts.
The core range today consisits of a
blended whiskey, sourced from the Great
Northern Distillery in Dundalk Co.
Louth, Ireland, the range also offers a
no-age statement single malt, a single
pot still, and a Pinot Noir cask
finished whiskey created in
collaboration with actor turned
winemaker Sam Neill who believe it or
not is Johnny's father's second cousin,
Johnny's father's great-grandfather and
Sam's great-grandfather were brothers.
Samuel Gelston's whiskey brand is owned
by HJ Neill Limited which is majority
owned by Liverpool drinks giant Halewood
International Holdings plc which is the
conglomerate behind Crabbie's Yardhead
Scotch whisky, Sadler's Peaky Blinder
Irish Whiskey, The Pogues Irish Whiskey,
Aber Falls Welsh whisky, Dead Man's
Fingers Rum, James Cree's Straight
Bourbon, Whitley Neill Gin, Rum Sixty
Six Bajan Rum and a number of other
spirits brands as well of Hawkshead
beer.
I have heard it rumoured that there will
be a Samuel Gelston's distillery in the
future but meanwhile the whiskey in the
Samuel Gelston's bottles are sourced
from the likes of the Great Northern
Distillery in Dundalk Co. Louth,
Ireland, which itself only went into
production in 2015 and produces Irish
single malts, pot still and grain
whiskey.
The single malt and grain whiskey's
which were blended to create the Samuel
Gelston's Blended Irish Whiskey which I
am reviewing here was sourced from the
Great Northern Distillery and have been
matured in American ex-bourbon casks
before being bottled at 40% ABV.
You will find Samuel Gelston's Blended
Irish Whiskey as well as the rest of
Samuel Gelston's whiskey range available from
specialist online whisky retailers such
as
The Whisky Exchange,
Amazon and
Master of
Malt
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Samuel Gelston's Blended Irish Whiskey Review
|
William
Morrison's Tasting Notes:
Nose:
A lovely gentle nose with a little lemon
citrus, mild coconut sweetness and a
touch of creamy vanilla.
Taste:
New make spirit and vanilla lead, icing
sugar sweetness, a
touch of the slightly candied lemon
citrus and the coconut from the nose,
some gentle spice perks things up a
little.
Finish:
Fades quickly leaving a touch of
lingering citrus and spice
Comment: A young, fresh,
clean, very gentle Irish blend, I cant
fault it for a young whiskey. It is a
pleasant enough dram, starts well on the
nose, despite the new make notes on the
palate it is a very easy drinking young
whiskey but it would benefit greatly
from a few more years in the barrel
before it would put a dent in Jameson's
blended Irish whiskey market share. I
have ordered myself a bottle of the
Samuel's Gelston's Single Pot Still and
I will let you know my thoughts on that
when I taste it, meanwhile if you see
this on offer in Tesco (it was £16 at
the weekend) then it is worth a go at
that price.
SMW Irish Blended Whiskey Score 80/100
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Other Samuel Gelston's Irish Whiskey Reviews
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