Clonakilty Distillery Tweet Tasting -7Th April 2021.

Single Grain Bordeaux cask finish & Single Batch Double Oak

Single Grain Bordeaux Cask Finish 43.6% ABV

For our Single Grain Bordeaux Cask Finish we have used a 9 year old premium Irish grain. It is gently cut and finished in carefully selected Bordeaux casks at our Atlantic Ocean warehouse.

Clonakilty Whiskey

Appearance

Light to medium gold in colour, it beads up on the swirl line and slowly drops medium thick legs.

Nose

Fizzy up the nose, red apples skins, strawberries (without sugar), wood polish, a touch of menthol, a perfume note like the gin, and flapjack. I’m going with cranberries too, perhaps a hint of dryness, slightly dusty.

I’m getting creamy coffee 👍#ClonakiltyDistillery

— Dram it Mick! (@StillSurreal) April 7, 2021

Palate

Red berries and cherryade initially for me. Then gentle spices, cardamom start to show, cinnamon and ginger. Chilli’s, very dark chocolate, a good helping of oak, liquorice, char and anise ramp up the palate. I’m adding grapefruit/pomelo, nutmeg as @FiShoop suggested, and hazel nuts too.

Same here mate 👍#ClonakiltyDistillery

— Dram it Mick! (@StillSurreal) April 7, 2021

Finish

Long side of medium in length. Black coffee, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, tobacco leaves, some dunnage and a slightly earthiness close the finish.

My thoughts

I am a lover of Single Grain whisk(e)y, it certainly has it’s place within whisk(e)y as a whole, in my opinion. The range of whiskies that come under this umbrella is rather large, and definitely needs some homework by potential purchasers, so large is the range of flavours and aromas available.

This Single Grain whiskey does not fall into the “general” range of Single Grain whiskies, and certainly not the Single Grains from Ireland. Before tasting this i expected a light and sweet Grain whiskey, bolstered by red berry fruits and more sweetness (which i love.) What i actually got was deeper and more flavoursome to be honest, and it was a most welcome surprise. Would i buy a bottle? Definitely, thoroughly enjoyable from beginning to end.

Single Batch Double Oak 43.6% ABV

A premium product matured in ex-bourbon casks, it is finished in virgin American oak; and shaved, toasted and re-charred ex-red wine European oak casks (NEOC, New Era of Cask). This makes it the world’s first Irish whiskey to be finished in a NEOC cask. NEOC are ex-red wine barrels from the Bordeaux region of France. They are hand-shaved by traditional coopers, and re-toasted according to each individual distiller’s specification.

Clanakilty Distillery

Appearance

A little darker than mid gold, quite viscous on the swirl line with teardrops and slow medium legs.

Nose

Sandalwood, seared pineapple/tropical fruits, cocktail cherries from the jar to start with. Balsa wood, old glazing putty, a slight conifer branch note develops. It’s slowly becoming fruitier for me now, apricots and nectarines with icing sugar, but still a carpenters workshop in the background, I like this.

Almond is a good shout 👍#ClonakiltyDistillery

— Dram it Mick! (@StillSurreal) April 7, 2021

I think you’d be right mate, perhaps even on well toasted bread 👍#ClonakiltyDistillery

— Dram it Mick! (@StillSurreal) April 7, 2021

Or ryvitas would be better, the rye ones 👌#ClonakiltyDistillery

— Dram it Mick! (@StillSurreal) April 7, 2021

Palate

Nice mouthfeel, initially tropical and stoned fruits for me, with warming spiciness, ginger nut biscuits, cinnamon sweets, white pepper, and green grapes. As it develops I’d say dark chocolate Orange, espresso coffee, a touch of salt in there, cloves, blackberries and black currant jam.

I think we do mate 😉#clonakiltydistillery

— Dram it Mick! (@StillSurreal) April 7, 2021

Finish

It’s quite long and lingering, some sweetness comes back and balances nicely with the spices from the palate. I’d say icing sugar but it’s fruity too, I agree with @TheWhiskyWire with cream soda.

My thoughts

I found this to be a very good Blended whiskey, which if i had blind tasted i would not have guessed it was a blended whiskey. I particularly enjoyed the development, which is different to many whiskeys i have tried, and was a very refreshing change in all honesty. Personally i found this different to the usual blended Irish whiskeys that i have tried in the past. Would i buy a bottle? Yes i would, for my personal taste it’s a very good whiskey.

My overall thoughts

This was a great tasting, it had been postponed, and many of us were very keen to get stuck into these whiskeys and the Minke Gin that came with them. The wait was definitely worth it.

Thanks to – @clondistillery, @Tweettastings, @TheWhiskyWire, @TomsDram, @SpiritandWood, @WhiskyShared, @rodbodtoo and @whiskeychap.