If you go down to the woods today you’re in for a big surprise – I’m not there. Neither was I there yesterday for all these shenanigans. Half of Twitter was, but not me. That last tweet is from a UK drinks PR firm. I met one of their guys when I did the Irish Whiskey Academy here in Midleton last year. He told me I should start blogging, I felt like telling him I had been blogging like a champ for four years and a long time previous to that I had nearly been fired for a blog I had on MySpace (ask your folks). Anyway, here I am with an award-defying whiskey-themed blog and still no invite to the woods-based social event of the year, the launch of the new pot still whiskey from my hometown. Here’s the blurb:
Pernod Ricard has announced the launch of Midleton Dair Ghaelach, its first ever Irish whiskey to be finished in virgin Irish Oak Hogsheads.
Midleton Dair Ghaelach (58.5% ABV) meaning ‘Irish oak’, is the result of a six-year exploration by the Midleton Masters into using native oak to mature Irish whiskey. Led by Master Blender, Billy Leighton, and Kevin O’Gorman, Master of Maturation.
The project had two prerequisites. The first was to ensure that all Irish oak was sourced exclusively from sustainable Irish Oak forests that could guarantee both a long-term supply and the re-generation of native wood, while the second was to explore what new taste profiles could be created from Irish oak maturation to craft a new and outstanding Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey.
In collaboration with professional Irish forestry consultants, O’Gorman and Leighton selected Grinsell’s Wood within the Ballaghtobin Estate, Co. Kilkenny, to provide the oak for the first in a series of virgin oak releases in the coming years. Each bottle can be traced back to one of ten 130-year-old Irish oak trees in Grinsell’s Wood, which were felled in April 2012.
To craft the oak into casks, fellow artisans at the Maderbar sawmills in Baralla, north-west Spain, used the quarter-sawing process to cut the trees into staves under the watchful eye of the Midleton Masters. The staves were then transferred to the Antonio Páez Lobato cooperage in Jerez, where after drying for fifteen month the staves were worked into 48 Irish Oak Hogshead casks and given a medium toast.
At Midleton, a selection of traditional Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey distillates, matured for between 15 and 22 years in ex-Bourbon casks, were married together before being filled into the Irish oak Hogsheads. Leighton and O’Gorman nosed and tasted the whiskey each month and after almost one year, judged it to be beautifully balanced with just the perfect contribution of Irish oak.
Analysis shows that the Irish oak contains higher levels of some lignin derivative compounds, such as vanillin and vanillic acid, and furfural, in comparison to American and Spanish oak. These compounds further enhance the whiskey with vanilla, caramel and chocolate flavours, which are detectable on the nose of Midleton Dair Ghaelach and perfectly balance the classically rich, spicy Single Pot Still taste profile.
Commenting on the new release, Midleton Distillery Master Blender, Billy Leighton, said: “The process of maturing in native oak has enabled us to showcase our Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey style in a new and innovative way; the casks impart much more generous toasted wood, vanilla and caramel flavours than what we expect from American bourbon and Spanish oak, which we hope whiskey lovers will appreciate and enjoy.”
This uniquely Irish expression is the latest addition to the Midleton Single Pot Still family of whiskies, satisfies the growing appetite among whiskey lovers for discovering new and innovative styles of Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey.
Midleton Dair Ghaelach, will be available through specialist retailers from April for a RRP of $250.
250!!!! Still, that’s only half me week’s dole, wha.
