History.
It's a fairly recent phenomenon in Ireland that a distillery completed the whiskey’s journey. For centuries, the Irish distilleries sold their new (raw) spirit to bonders (Bonders held a bond with Custom’s & Excise to pay the applicable taxes on spirits, once the spirits were bottled) for maturing, These bonders were usually wine & spirits importers/merchants who bottled their own wine, sherry, cognac. Once these oak casks were emptied, the bonders refilled the casks with the fresh, colorless spirit, that would later become whiskey. They allowed the whiskey to absorb some of the flavour & colour from the oak casks. (In Ireland, the raw, clear barley spirit is called potcheen, it’s only after a minimum of three years and one day of maturation in oak barrels, can the distillate be called whiskey.)
In 1887, the Mitchel & Son decided to branch out into the whiskey business and began maturing whiskey from the nearby Jameson Distillery in their cellars alongside barrels of sherry and cases of claret. Splotches of colored paint were used to indicate their views on the aging potential of each cask. Through the 1900’s Mitchell & Son developed a reputation for creating some of the finest Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey to be found in Dublin. A reputation that stays true even to this day.
The Spots - Overview
The Spot Whiskeys are made using a unique combination of both malted and unmalted barley. They are all a Single Pot Still Whiskey, triple distilled for that extra smoothness that Irish Pot Still whiskey is renowned for. This leads to that silky caress in the mouth and the flavours change as the whiskey is exposed to the air.
Green Spot whiskey matures in a combination of ex-bourbon casks as well as ex-sherry butts for between 7 and 10 years. The original Green Spot was a minimum of ten years old. (See photo above)
Green Spot Château Léoville Barton is initially matured in a mix of ex-Oloroso sherry and ex-bourbon barrels before being transferred into the ex-Bordeaux wine casks for between 12 to 24 months.
Yellow Spot is matured for a minimum of 12 years in bourbon casks, sherry butts and Malaga casks to create a superbly complex whiskey.
Red Spot is a triple-distilled, single pot still Irish whiskey that has been matured for a minimum of 15 years in a combination of casks pre-seasoned with bourbon, Oloroso (Spanish) sherry, and Sicilian Marsala fortified wine.
Blue Spot was a seven-year-old whiskey, that never really found much favor amongst the whiskey cognoscenti in Ireland. Not currently produced.
This is how Mitchell & Son produced their whiskeys right through to the 1960s and how the tradition has been continued to this day by the expert master blenders at the Midleton Distillery, in County Cork, using the recipes & notes that Mitchell & Son accumulated.
As much and all as the whiskey critics raved over the Green Spot, it wasn’t until the Yellow Spot arrived that I started paying attention to Mitchell & Son fine pot still whiskeys. While I was impressed with the Yellow Spot whiskey, it wasn’t until I was introduced recently to Red Spot by a local whiskey aficionado (John Suveges from Laguna Beach), that I was blown away, became a convert & am proselytizing here today on the benefits of including Red Spot in your spirits cabinet. A little drop of heaven in every glass.
The modern version of Red Spot was only reintroduced to the marketplace in Autumn 2018, having been on hiatus since the 1960’s.
It’s bottled at 46% alcohol without chill-filtration.
Tasting Notes.
Appearance
Medium Amber
Aroma.
The initial aroma was readily identifiable as being quite floral, which after a few minutes morphed into a beautiful caramel & floral confection.
On The Tongue
This whiskey delivers a gentle caress in the mouth, as you start to identify the flavors: Apple, a hint of pepper & sweet caramel & vanilla. Rich, full, and weighty on the palate. But the drama unfolds as the whiskey is exposed to air in the glass as both thermos & flavours morph before your nose & tongue.
Finish
A very clean finish, no oils left on the tongue. Not as long a finish as some of the competing Irish Pot Still whiskeys.
Regular shot glass, with the Riedel Single Malt glass on the RHS.
Which Glass ?
We started out initially with a wide, short crystal tumbler but the real oral explosions did not begin until we poured a little of the uisce beatha (Gaelic = water of life) into Riedel’s Single Malt glasses. The difference in taste was not subtle between the two glasses, the Riedel provided so much more fragrance, the flavours were noticeably amplified; the equivalent of changing out the stock power cord on your amplifier for a Shunyata Research’s Sigma NR power cable, there is so much more music, micro detail is suddenly apparent. The soundstage becomes wider & the performers more clearly defined.
So too with the Riedel Single Malt whiskey glass; the aromas were more pronounced, the flavours that were once only subtle hints, now become more readily identifiable. Anyone splurging on premium & super premium whiskeys would be well advised to invest in some of the Riedel glasses.
Mitchell & Son Red Spot has a suggested retail price of about $130 in the USA.
It's about as easy to find as hen's teeth. Been keeping an eye out at Total wine for many months now, as I am perilously low on this fantastic whiskey.
