Origin: Dublin (Ireland)
Type: Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey
Strength: 46%ABV
Ageing casks: Ex-Bourbon, ex-Sherry and ex-Málaga Wine
Chillfiltered: No
Added coloring: Yes
Owner: Pernod Ricard
Average price: € 75.00
Official website: www.spotwhiskey.com
Vote: 85/100
The history of this particular whiskey has, as is often the case, its roots in the nineteenth century, more precisely in 1805, when the Mitchell family founded (and still owns) one of Dublin’s largest grocery shops, and began bonding whiskey in 1887.
Bounders were (and are) more than just bottlers, buying the freshly produced distillate from the hundreds of distilleries operating on the Emerald Isle at the time, who preferred to sell their new make to merchants and retailers, scattered around every Irish town, who would then age it in their own casks and resell it under their own label.
This created a unique range of aromas and flavours, to the extent that almost every town could be found with different whiskies, blends and single pot stills.
Returning to the Mitchells, they bought new make mainly from the Jameson distillery and then aged it in the many imported Port, wine and Sherry casks that were already in storage, left to rest in the warehouse under Fitzwilliam Lane.
When the cask distilled came entirely from Jameson, they used to mark the cask with a ‘spot’ of paint, where the colour indicated the years of ageing: blue for 7 years, green for 10, yellow for 12 and red for 15.
After the Second World War, the crisis led to the closure of numerous distilleries, and to ensure the survival of the few remaining ones, Irish Distillers decided to stop selling distillate to bonders… except for the Mitchell family, who continued to produce their own whiskies, right up to the present day with the rediscovery of the current labels.
Yellow Spot was reintroduced a few years ago after being absent since the 1960s, and takes its distillate from the Midleton Distillery (which produces, among others, the Jameson), resulting from the union of whiskies aged in the three different casks.
Tasting notes
This whiskey is distilled from malted and unmalted barley, and has a nose with lots of grain and wood, with a strong sweet component of vanilla, maple syrup, caramel, green apple and almonds. Herbaceous profile in the background, with a slight balsamic note.
The palate is distinctly spicy, with nutmeg and star anise, but it’s always the sweet side that dominates, here softer and silkier, with butter biscuits, lots of fruit (apricot, peach, ripe apple), lemon peel, honey, chocolate chips, caramel, wood. Another subtle balsamic note in the background.
The finish is quite long and spicy, with cereal, wood, honey and fruit.
The three casks work together to create a very pleasant and rich whiskey, sweet and fresh at the same time, full of flavour and very drinkable. An excellent job.
Reviews of Spot Whiskey in the blog:
Blue Spot 7yo Cask Strength
Red Spot 15yo
Other perspectives:
The Whiskey Trail