Last November, while walking around both evening sessions of Whiskey Live Dublin I was stopped every couple of stands and asked “what has been the highlight, is there anything we should look out for”. The answer always came quick and resounding. “Killowen…..You gotta get to Killowen!”. Brendan is working magic in his wee direct fire still distillery, playing with some seriously delicious mash bills, samples of which he graciously brought to whiskey live along with his newly released 10year old Rum cask finish blend of sourced whiskey for everyone to try. I doubt anyone left his stand without soaking up some of his passion for Irish whiskey, historical mash bills and to change the Single Pot Still composition within the whiskey technical file. So move on to today and we have the second release of sourced stock from Killown in the form of an Acacia cask finished 10 year old blend. Acacia, having been previously released by both Bushmills (Distillery exclusive) and Irish Distillers (Method and Madness for Celtic Whiskey Shop), has been found to have worked extremely well with Irish whiskey in both the Single Malt and Single Pot Still expressions. I’m intrigued to now try it as a finish to a blended whiskey!
Pre orders will be available from irishmalts.com tomorrow from €89.95, using this link (It will be available for pre order from tomorrow folks, not today!). It is on general release from Tuesday next. Until then, have a read of the Killowen press release below.
*****PRESS RELEASE*****
This is a Txakolina Acacia Cask finished, Small batch (490 bottles), cask strength, non-chill filtered, no Colouring, 10 year old blend with transparency and integrity at its core.
Since the incipient of Killowen Distillery, we have been carefully sourcing whiskeys that are a minimum of ten years old from different distilleries all across Ireland. Throughout this time we also hunted the globe for the finest casks to complement certain flavour notes in the blends.
Amongst the vibrant blended whiskey culture in Ireland, the Killowen series stands out with its unique ratio of malts and grain whiskeys, the blend is then finished with a dominant yet balanced cask influence. This allows the consumer to enjoy an educative experience while drinking which is enhanced by extensive production transparency on the bottle labeling.
Killowen hopes to be an exemplar for industry progression, with their integrety bottlings, quality spirit and transparency is at its core. The packaging provides the consumer with all details regarding sourcing, blend ratio and finish.
The fact that it is not Killowen distilled spirit but rather, as the names suggests, a blended/ bonded spirit – is clearly set out. By providing the consumer with all the information allowing it allows for a deeper understanding of the flavor breakdown.
This whiskey is the second of a set of different whiskeys that will be released over a two year period. The creators have advised the whiskey can be slightly diluted to suit the consumer. Finishing only 490 no. 50cl bottles, The Basque Txakolina Cask was specifically chosen for its smell and freshness, This coupled with virgin Acacia heads creates a unique small batch spirit with a full bodied experience as follows:
Nose – Intense varietal aromas on the nose, with notes of white fruit, (pear and apple) citrus, (grapefruit) and stone fruit, (peach) with a mild spice towards the end of the arrival.
Palate – A marriage of apricot, apple and pear flesh from the start with a slight bitter varietal character, creating a fresh mineral balance alongside vanilla wood-spice.
Finish – A long vanilla wood-spice finish with grapefruit and apple. Returning to stone fruit from the spirit balanced with stone fruit from the wine cask.
While tasting, add half tea spoons of un-chilled water until the consumers ‘sweet spot’ is found
Note:
Continuing with the discipline of this series, all bottles are at cask strength, there has been no chilled filtration or added colouring. The spirit has come straight from cask to bottle, is full of flavour and high in alcohol content. The wine Cask is lightly charred and so the unfiltered spirit is relatively free of char.
Killowen Distillery believe a whiskey should be enjoyed at cask strength then diluted by the consumer for a more intimate and educative drinking experience.
The consumer will notice the flavour profile of the spirit change as it breathes. Different fruit and spice notes become apparent as the spirit is carefully diluted and begins to open up.
That's Dram Good 