The Silkie Irish whiskey is the first independent bottling from the soon to be constructed Sliabh Liag Distillery in Co. Donegal. Plans are in place to have this distillery constructed at some point in 2019 and, here they will distill both single pot still and single malt whiskeys that will be triple distilled and peated, following the traditional peating of whiskey in the Donegal region.
Interestingly, they do have a working distillery, called An Dúlamán (‘The Seaweed’), which is focusing primarily on gin. This has been in operation since 2017, which produces An Dúlamán Maritime Gin, which is infused with seaweed, funnily enough.
The Silkie takes its name from the ‘legends of the Silkie’, who take the form of seals in the water but shed their skin when they come ashore, transforming into irresistible women. This whiskey took the form of the Silkie when I shed the Irish Whiskey Advent Calendar of its 11th door. This whiskey is a blend of grain and malt and unfortunately there is no indication as to what the cask regiments are used in this blend. Our educated guess would be that this is exclusively ex-bourbon matured.
Tasting Notes by Matt Healy, Chief Editor of Potstilled.com.
Colour: Pale Gold.
ABV: 40% ABV (80 Proof).
Nose: This has a spirituous, astringent nose, that can overpower a lot of the subtler tones of the whiskey at first. Behind that, we have vanilla, toasted wood, sugar sweetness and the softest touch of malt.
Palate: On the palate this whiskey bursts open with pear and green apple, a touch of menthol, peppermint, and rounded out with malt and a hint of vanilla.
Finish: The finish is medium to short with a light tongue prickle, and some residual sweetness from the peppermint flavours.
Overall: This is a good entry whiskey to the category; the palate is quite enjoyable and there are stronger hints of malt than I would have expected for a flagship blend. The astringency of the nose lets the whole execution down a little bit but overall quite enjoyable. I haven’t found this level of peppermint in any other blends recently. This blend retails in the Republic of Ireland for approximately €45-50.