Origin: Kerry (Ireland)
Type: Irish Single Pot Still Whiskey
Strength: 52.5%ABV
Ageing casks: Ex-Bourbon 1st fill and ex-Rye
Chillfiltered: No
Additional coloring: No
Owner: Dingle Distillery
Average price: € 120.00
Official website: dingledistillery.ie
Vote: 88/100
After so much Scotland, I return to Ireland with the now over-decade-old Dingle distillery and the most classic of Irish whiskeys, that single pot still (distilled from both malted and unmalted barley) that is a symbol of the island’s style.
Part of the Celtic Wheel of the Year Series dedicated to the Celtic solar calendar marking the passage of time and seasons, divided into eight periods, as many as the bottlings in this series that began in late 2022 with Samhain, a single malt celebrating the end of summer and the beginning of the Celtic New Year.
This seventh release, from early 2024, celebrates the summer solstice, taking its name from the last festival held before the days of the year shorten again, and is also the second of the two single pot stills in the series, which concluded with the single malt Cónocht an Fómhair in September of the same year. Long finishing (unspecified) in ex-rye casks, it is intended to remind us of the air of those days.
Tasting Notes
Fruity and lactic notes prevail on the nose, between yoghurt and fresh fruit, with delicate spicy tones of nutmeg and cinnamon: pear, baked apple, peach and apricot are in the foreground, with that lactic inflection giving a pleasant touch of acidity. In the background, marzipan, coconut bar (like Bounty, to give an idea), shortcrust pastry and custard. Along the length, slight vegetable inflection. Inviting.
In the mouth, the spices raise their voices, with the copious addition of ginger, along with a wave of coffee candy that paves the way for the fruity notes of the nose, albeit in a lesser tone, so much so that the palate is enriched: malt, vegetable notes, rye bread, nuts, liquorice root, chocolate, sandalwood.
The finish is quite long and spicy, with the vegetable notes intertwining with coffee, chocolate, wood, liquorice, nuts.
The choice of ageing in ex-rye casks proved to be a winning one, the interaction with the single pot still enhances its characteristics creating a ‘loaded’ whiskey, at times almost too much, with an engaging and full richness.