Hinch New Make Spirit, 63% ABV.

At the Hinch, (taken from Ballynahinch, meaning ‘town of the island’ in Gaelic) and set amongst County Down’s rolling green drumlin hills, we have created a distillery that has aspirations well beyond ‘the ordinary’, ambitions to be creative well beyond ‘the easily achieved’. County Down has a strong distilling history and from the late 18th to the early 20th century was home to seven Irish Whiskey producing distilleries. We are intensely proud to be part of the continuing story of County Down with the creation of the Hinch Distillery. We are inspired by the distilling traditions and skills exchanged over the centuries during the ebb and flow of Gaelic peoples across the Irish Sea. Informed by the past but looking to the future we are creating Irish whiskeys that are reassuringly smooth yet very distinctively richer and bolder in character.

Hinch Whiskey

This New Make Spirit was tasted as part of a Tweet Tasting on the 12th of May 2021.

This sample of Hinch’s New Make Spirit was produced using Distillers yeast and Laureate malted barley.

Appearance

Well it’s clear in colour (no surprise there), and it’s quite viscous on the glass to be honest.

Nose

First nose and we’re into freshly cut grass. Hazelnuts come along next, followed by plum and damson jam, it’s so fruity fresh and gives the feeling of super sticky and sweet jam. At this point i also get a touch of menthol.

With more time sitting in the glass i’m starting to get red berries too, strawberries, raspberries and light red cherries. Just before we reach the finish i get pontefract cakes, grains/cereals, liquorice, I’d also say wood varnish.

I agree with the cereal notes 👍#hinchdistillery

— Dram it Mick! (@StillSurreal) May 12, 2021

Palate

This New Make Spirit is just so lovely and fruity. It’s crammed full of cherries, strawberries, and damson jam. I’m getting a lovely warming feeling with it, and it’s surprisingly easy to drink as is at 63% ABV. Nuts come through again, with cinnamon, like a nut and cinnamon pastry. Coffee, honeycomb finish the majority of the palate.

With more time in the glass i have liquorice coming through, there’s plenty going on. Somebody else on the tasting suggested Juniper, and i had to agree with them.

My thoughts

My Whiskey chaps partner and myself have now tasted over a dozen different New Make Spirits, and they are fascinating. They tell an intimate story of the distillers choices, from the yeast and Barley strains they have chosen, the fermentation times, the width of the cuts during spirit runs and more. Getting to taste a distilleries New Make Spirit gives an idea of what the distilleries are looking for, and which direction they are heading in. I would always advise the more discerning whisk(e)y drinker to try it, the flavour range between New Make Spirits is surprisingly wide. This Hinch NMS has lots of promise, with some flavours i don’t recall getting in other NMS, they are starting the process with a really solid base, and i really look forward to trying whiskey crafted from it.

Thanks to – @hinchdistillery, @TheWhiskyWire, @TweetTastings, and @whisky_jamie – all Twitter.