24 drams till Christmas 2016 #8: Yellow Spot 12 yo Single Potstill Irish Whiskey

Dram data:
Distillery: Midleton
Bottler: Mitchell & Son
Distilled: –
Bottled: ca. 2015
Age: 12 years
Limitation: –
Casks: Bourbon Barrels, Sherry Butts & Malaga Casks
Alcohol: 46%
unchillfiltered and uncoloured
Whiskybase link

We’ve had a few Scottish and a German Whisky so far – how about an Irish whiskey next?

Tasting notes:
Colour: orange
The nose opens with notes of ethanol, cookies and citrus fruits – freshly cut lemons, limes and green clementines. Some essential lemon oil too? Green apples, pears and pineapples provide an additional fruity-acidic note. After a while the citrus notes transform into oranges, the apples turn red, a dash of honey appears along with a trace of cinnamon and there’s a hint of vanilla and a faint trace of fragrant oak. On to the palate!Hmm… that’s interesting! A mixture of breakfast cereals with honey on the arrival – sweet, runny supermarket honey! After a few seconds white pepper appears, together with ethanol and eucalyptus. There’s also a green note – more flowery than grassy, though. The apples and pears are back, paired with a green nut bitterness. The texture is both oily and dry. The alcohol remains noticeable throughout. The short to medium long finish has a pinch of pepper and spices upon swallowing, with oak sweetness and the light fruits (oranges, apples, pears) appearing afterwards, followed by an onsetting dryness.

Verdict:
You can immediately tell this is not a Scotch Single Malt – it is lighter in style, with more lemon and light fruits than most Scottish profiles. No wonder – “single pot still” whiskey means a whisky from a single distillery, but from both malted and unmalted barley, distilled in traditional pot stills, in this case at the Midleton distillery.
Personally I find the unmalted barley in this whiskey to provide a restlessness on the palate I find a bit difficult, but that’s just my personal preference. Certainly a very good distillate – and something different from Scotch!

Score: 82/100
(Nose: 81 Palate: 82 Finish: 82)