Recently we brought you the news that the long fabled Red Spot Single Pot Still whiskey was coming back to our shelves. The folks at Irish Distillers and the Spot Range brand owners Mitchell’s and Son’s wine merchants have extended the spot family to once again include the eldest member Red Spot 15 year old.
Red Spot was traditionally a single pot still from the old John Jameson distillery in Dublin, which was aged by the Mitchell’s family in their family cellars in fortified wine casks for a minimum for 15 years. It is one of the true unicorns of Irish whiskey. For a long time antiquated bottles of Green Spot and Yellow Spot would rear their heads on the market, yet never was a Red Spot to be found. About two years ago, the first Red Spot that many of us had ever seen, appeared in the Celtic Whiskey Shop, that is until now.
This new iteration of the Red Spot range will be true to history as it is the eldest expression in the Spot range currently. It is matured in a combination of Bourbon, Sherry, and Marsala wine casks. It will be bottled at 46%, which indicates non-chill filtering. So far it appears that it will be available in at least the Republic of Ireland as well as the United States.
The tasting notes from the back of the bottle describe a fantastically fruit forward Pot Still whiskey with an amazing mango and black cherry note to the nose, which is a very unusual tasting note in Irish whiskey. Don’t worry though; the fruits haven’t taken over completely. The characteristic pot still spice and leather notes are still there. The official tasting notes are as follows:
Nose: Pot Still spices with a rich cooked fruit, baked apple, mango and black cherry. Hazelnut and a touch of new leather fuse with toasted American oak.
Palate: A mix of ripe fruit sweetness from the marsala seasoned wine casks. While the fruit remains, rep pepper and cracked black pepper add some spiciness. Finished by notes of American oak and barley.
Finish: An extra long infusion of fruit and spices.
This sounds like an absolutely amazing whiskey that will be a very welcome addition to the Spot range. There is no indication of prices yet; although, there is some speculation that it will be price premium to the Redbreast 15 which retails circa €100 in Ireland, only time will tell on this one.
Although, we won’t have to wait long to find out. The official launch is pegged for the second week of November and the whiskey will see its public debut at this year’s Whiskey Live Dublin, on the 23rd and 24th of the November.
Get your glasses and tasting notes ready folks.
Here is a quick look at the labels currently. Those who have been following our updates on our facebook, instagram or twitter pages will have seen that there was an update to the Red Spot label after its first submission to the US TTB for approval, which saw the addition of an actual red spot to the front of the label and a general sharpening up of different aspects of the label. All in all, the finished print label looks fantastic to me.
We will return with official tasting notes once the whiskey is released.
Until then.
Sláinte.