Origin: Kerry (Ireland)
Type: Irish Single Pot Still Whiskey
Strength: 46.5%ABV
Ageing casks: Ex-Bourbon and ex-Sherry
Chillfiltered: No
Additional coloring: No
Owner: Dingle Distillery
Average price: € 90.00
Official website: dingledistillery.ie
Vote: 86/100
In 1996, Oliver Hughes, Liam LaHart and Peter Mosley launched the Porterhouse Brewing Company, which produced craft beer at a time when, in Ireland, it was not as widespread and fashionable as it is today.
From this experience, the desire to create a small independent whiskey distillery was born, in a context dominated by three large companies, and in 2012 the Dingle Distillery opened its doors, with the first barrels filled in December of that same year.
It’s therefore one of the few distilleries of the Irish new wave to be able to bottle whiskey of its own production, located in the delightful Dingle Peninsula that offers a particularly suitable environment for production.
Since the first launch in November 2016, they have already arrived at the fifth batch of their single malt, also proposed cask strength, flanked by another series, Single Pot Still (whiskey produced with malted and unmalted barley), which reached its fourth release last November, also with a cask strength edition.
Triple distillation as per tradition, production in small batches, totally natural. The sample in my hands was part of the first set (released in November 2020) of Three Drams, a monthly subscription service dedicated exclusively to Irish whiskey, which offers tastings of very recent and particular releases.
Tasting notes
Full gold in the glass.
Warm and comforting spicy notes reach the nose, with juniper berries and nutmeg on blueberries, orange, melon, marzipan, dark chocolate, coffee grounds. Pencil chips and cereal cookies. Elegant and wintery profile.
Silky on the palate, it resumes the spiciness of the nose remaining on warm tones of gingerbread, dried plums, figs with almonds, melon, candied orange, vanilla, chocolate, coffee. Freshly cut wood in the background.
Fairly long and dry finish of wood, spices, chocolate, orange.
Nice balance between the influences of the barrels, the Sherry offers the right share of Winter heat that makes the whiskey comfortable and welcoming, a warm blanket that envelops the senses and pushes to meditation (or a nap, it depends).